For All the World to Fall
by ModernGeisha
Summary: When Deidara left home to join the Akatsuki he made one major promise to his little sister. After years he's gone home to make good on his promise and take her away from the hell that he left her in. But as with anything involving family nothing is easy.
1. Chapter 001: Introduction to Nightmares

_**Begin Arc One: Nightmares**_

Notice: Several things are different between Canon and this.

_Deidara didn't destroy the city on the night he left._

_Sasuke didn't succeed in getting away from Konaha_

_Orochimaru still has his ring even though Deidara is an instated member of the organization._

Deidara sighed as he looked around his room for the thousandth time that night. He had woken up at around eleven and started packing, working by candle light so that the bright light from his lamp wouldn't disturb his parents or little sister. His eyes roamed over the things that sat on his various shelves, he could barley imagine leaving them behind but he needed to travel light. He sighed again and went back to packing trying to completely block off all the emotions that were screaming at him. The thought of what he was doing scared him more and more each minute but the ever constant thought of _what else can I do_ kept him moving.

Walking over to his closet he pulled out another set of clothes and began to fold them into squares. The familiar motion made it easier for him to block out his thoughts and just concentrate on the task at hand. Turning back to his bed he jumped out of his skin when he saw his younger sister sitting on his bed rubbing her eyes, his skills as a ninja were the only things that kept him from overreacting. He cut his eyes over to the door and was relieved to see that it was still shut. He quickly made his way across the room and sat down on the bed beside her, pulling her into his lap.

"Hey it's one o' clock in the morning what are you doing up? A growing girl like you needs her sleep." Deidara tried to inconspicuously push the bag off the bed but it didn't work out to well when she reached over and grabbed it, dragging it closer to the two of them just as it would have fallen onto the floor.

She stared down at the bag for a moment before reaching her small hands in and starting to rifle through all the items in there. Deidara let out a small sigh as he watched her in silence. She finished fast and neatly slid everything back into the place that she had found it before looking dead ahead at the door. She took a deep breath and tried not to start crying as she opened her mouth.

"You promised me you wouldn't leave me Deidara. You said that no matter what we were in this together. That no matter what you would always be here to protect me." Her voice was dead and more hallow than any child's voice should ever be.

Deidara shook his head and tried to stay strong. He couldn't let her weaken his resolve no matter what. He made a quick decision and decided that even if he had to hurt her he wouldn't be giving in. "After the events of today do you honestly think I'm still cut out to be your protector Winter? Because I personally don't think I am."

Winter turned around and looked at him. Deidara could barely contain the shudder that ripped through him when he saw he eyes. "So you're going to let one little fault run you off? One day's mistake kill your promise?"

Deidara sighed and took a deep breath to calm himself. "It wasn't just one fault and you know it. You need someone better equipped to protect you. Someone with more experience. I mean god Winter I couldn't even protect you from a mob of rouge ninja! When it came down to it I wasn't enough of a ninja to deliver the killing stroke! I froze and if Hitomi hadn't jumped in you could have been seriously hurt."

Winter furiously shook her head. "Everyone has an off day Dei. You can't hate on yourself just because you required help. In the academy they say that you can't always depend on yourself. Sometimes you have to just trust your team. Even when you're not sure you can. And it's not like you can't kill. If anything it's just that you were hesitant to kill in front of me because your brotherly mind wondered how I would view you after I saw a life lost to your hands."

"Winter…today isn't the only reason that I need to leave. Dad - I can't take him anymore. It's just getting to hard to put up with his constant pushing. Maybe if I run away I can show him what happens when you push too hard. Hopefully he won't take the same route with you."

Winter shook her head and jumped out of his lap. She stood in front of him and Deidara nearly reversed his plans when he saw the unshed tears in her eyes. This wasn't the Winter that he liked to see. Any day he would rather have her pissed beyond seeing reason than have her crying. "You can't leave I forbid It and you have to listen to me!"

Deidara slid off the bed and kneeled down in front of her, pulling her into his arms. He gently ran is hand over her back. "Winter I have to but…I'll tell you a secret. I'm not just leaving. You've heard of the Akatsuki right? Well I'm hunting them down. I'm going to join. And then I'm going to train and then I'm going to come back for you. By the time you're twenty I'll be back and I'll rescue you from this horrid place. You'll come live with me and after that I swear I'll never leave you for the entire world. No matter what I won't let anything separate us. Not even if it means my death yeah."

Winter pushed away from him and walked to the door. She turned around, her tears shinning in the light of the candle, and cast him one last glance before throwing the door open and running back to her room with the light steps of a Genin. Deidara watched her go, wiping away the one stray tear that slid out of his eyes. _This is for her benefit, I have to leave. As it stands she'll be safer here until I can settle._

Deidara turned around and went back to packing; he locked his emotions behind a wall as he slowly put the final items in his bag. If he was going to become the cold blooded killer that he needed to be then he couldn't feel anything. Especially not sadness and grief.

* * *

Across miles two people tossed and turned in their beds. They sighed as they briefly woke up and walked around their respective homes to calm their nerves. Each was on edge and knew that something big was underway, something that would spark danger. Each returned to their beds after getting a quick drink to calm their nerves. Whatever was coming wouldn't be moving any faster just because they deprived themselves of sleep.

Each closed their eyes but returned to sleep only hours later, once their ninja training had assured them that the coming threat would take it's time and wouldn't care if they were sleep deprived.

* * *

Deidara threw his bag over his shoulder and strapped his clay pouch to his leg. He scooped up the clay animals that he had made earlier in the day and walked outside his door to his sister's room. He contemplated knocking on it for a second before quickly shaking that thought lose. It would do neither of them any good. A simple departure with no goodbyes would scar them both but in the long run it would be better. It would give them something to talk about when they were once again reunited.

Shifting his bag around again he dropped down to one knee and lined up each of the animals in a nice formation outside of her door. They would be there to protect her even when he couldn't. As he sat each one down he gave it a quick check to make sure that the little scroll that he had stuck in it stayed firmly in place. They were for her eyes only and each would only show up when she really needed it. When he was satisfied that their formation was perfect and that no one but Winter would ever see the scrolls unless she herself showed them to the person he stood back up and returned to his room. He pinned the note he had written for his parents to his door and then shut it without so much as a click.

With one last glance around the room he blew out the candle and jumped from his window. Landing lightly on the ground he took stock of where the guards that patrolled his house were. They were several feet away and left a wide gap in their patrol. He took off in the direction of the city gates. The buildings that blurred past him helped to sooth his nerves as the icy air of the night bit into his lungs. Now he had to worry about being caught and getting in trouble for being out after curfew in addition to trying to become a missing-nin.

It was a short run at the speed he was going and before long he was standing on top of the city wall glancing back at Iwa and wondering if he could really do this. This would be his last chance to change his mind. He quickly banished his thoughts of returning though as his eyes landed on the ninja academy. The building alone inspired a great deal of rage to spark up in him but he held it back. If it weren't for the fact that Winter was still in the city he would have happily demolished half of it without a second thought. It no longer had control over him.

Deidara let out a breath that he had been holding as he watched two figures jump up onto the wall a few feet away from him. The white puff had an odd effect on him. Turning to his left he came face to face with his ex partners. "Hitomi. Aoi. Here to stop me are you?"

They both shook their heads and jumped off the wall, landing on the dirt outside of it. Deidara allowed his eyes to sweep over the city one last time before following them down. He thought he had seen lights on in his home tower but he knew he couldn't have been right, no way would Winter have betrayed him by telling and allowing an alarm to be sounded. It was more likely that he had seen lights from another building and projected them onto the tower because he had glanced so fast.

When he landed at the bottom of the wall he turned around and waited for them to make the first move. If they weren't there to stop him then why else were they there? "We're not here to stop you. We just need to know. We have to ask that is. Are you really going to do this? Are you really going to go rouge just because?" Asked Aoi as he threw his hands in the air. The three of them had been partners ever since their days in the academy.

"It's not a just because anything. You know that as well as I do. Don't try to even make it out like that. I have to do this." As he spoke Deidara took a bird out of his pocket and enlarged it. "This is neither a choice nor a decision I made lightly. I don't want to do this but what other path can I take? I can't bear the thought of suffering through his training anymore. But right now I can't take him on and we all know it. And Winter. My only chance for her is to do this. You have no chance of talking me out of doing this so don't even try. Plus you said you weren't here to stop me."

Before Hitomi could speak a small figure flew over the wall and landed on his head. He wobbled for a second before regaining his balance and looking up. "Hey you shouldn't be out here! How did you even get past the guards hime-chan?"

Winter jumped off Hitomi's head, choosing not to acknowledge him or his comment for the time being, and landed on the ground right in front of Deidara. Her eyes were cold and guarded now. "Don't' worry about coming back for me. I don't want a cold blooded killer for a brother. Just promise me that when you die, and god knows that you will because you're playing with fire near drums of gasoline, you'll go out in a semi decent way. Not as some rouge hunted down by ANBU." Both Aoi and Hitomi winced at her harsh words. Aoi looked like he was going to say something but Hitomi held him back, shaking his head to indicate that they should stay out of it.

The four of the may have been like family to each other but they also knew when it was time to just butt out and let a problem amongst themselves play out between the people fighting.

Deidara matched her stoic expression and nodded. "I promise that I won't die as some stupid rouge hunted down. Promise me that you won't believe everything that you learn in the academy. You have to know how to decipher the bull from the good if you ever want to be a good ninja. Like what you said earlier. Not all of its wrong but at the same time surely you can see how it leads one in circles."

She gave a curt nod and then returned to the wall. Slowly she climbed over it, the three boys on the ground watching until she was safely on the other side. She was trying to be silent but they heard the soft _thump!_ as she hit the ground.

Deidara returned his attention to the two in front of him, his mask crumbling in a second. "Swear to me that you'll watch out for her until I return. She's too young to be closing herself off like that. She…I know I'm breaking her heart but I can't let her become so cold just because I'm screwing up my life."

"We swear so long as you don't keep that promise that you won't come back for her. Otherwise this is all pointless and we will have to stop you."

Deidara nodded his head and jumped onto his bird. Just as he would have taken off he turned back to them and just stared for a moment. They both sat and waited for him to speak; they could see that he was having an internal battle over whether or not he should ask something of them. Finally Aoi stepped up and made the decision for him.

"Ask us."

Deidara looked down on him and stared into his eyes. "I need to know that she can depend on you. That you're willing to take care of her to the point of becoming missing nin for her. That if she's ever in true danger you won't wait for me to come back, you'll take her and get as far away from the god forsaken village as possible. And if he ever even looks like he's going to put her through what he did to me you're willing to try and kill him."

Aoi nodded his head. "I give you my word as a Jounin that we'll both take care of her. In the event that we do leave the village though how should we get word to you? None of us thought that we might need a system to communicate by."

"I'll figure out something and send you a message explaining it. But never tell Winter if we do find a way to keep in contact. It's better that we part like this."

With a wave of his hand he said good bye to his best friends for who knew how long and took off into the sky. Friends or not they would be on different sides the next time he saw them. He may have asked them to dissert for his little sister but he could never ask them to go against their village for him. If they ever met on the battle field he would expect them to attack him like any other rouge. He would want them to fight with the intention of taking his life.

As he rose further and further up he caught sight of Winter standing on a roof watching him go. Spitting a clay bird out of his hand he sent it flying back to her and then turned his back and took off. This was all for her. _All for her benefit even if she doesn't see that. Even if she hates me._

"_Goodbye love."

* * *

_

Two people once again woke up. This time neither of them would be falling back to sleep that night…well morning. It was just before dawn. One moved from his bed and walked into his bathroom to run through his morning routine. The other was quickly pulled from her bed by guards that were calmly telling her that she needed to be taken to safety. The thoughts that had kept them awake for most of the night not forgotten for a second.

* * *

Deidara stepped out of his room and walked down the hallway to the kitchen. The whole way his mind was preoccupied by his thoughts and wonderings about his dream last night. He nervously shifted from foot to foot at he thought about his younger sister. It had been nearly three years since he had last seen her. Three years was all it had taken him to truly complete the first part of his plan. All the same it was a shorter amount of time than he had thought it would take.

Reaching into the cabinet he grabbed coffee and a filter and popped them both into the coffee machine. Spinning around he ran back to his room and quickly began to strip. Jumping into the shower he pushed his thoughts about Winter away and focused on his current life. He would be keeping his promise soon. He just needed to put a few more pieces into their proper place in his oh so time consuming puzzle. All he really needed now was to approach Leader-sama. As soon as that was done he would be that much closer to his goal.

Deidara sighed as he rolled his shoulders around and stretched in the shower, loving the feeling of the near scalding water running over his body. He heard the coffee maker beep and turned off the water. Sliding out of the shower he quickly threw one towel around his waist and used another to pat his hair dry. He dried his feet on the rug and then walked back to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Why are you running around naked brat?" Deidara spun around to fast and the towel in his hair fell apart, he grabbed it just before it hit the ground.

"Hello danna. I just got out of the shower, I didn't want anyone else to drink my coffee so it seemed like this was the best route. Why are you up so early? Usually you don't leave your room for another four hours." Deidara took a sip of his coffee as he waited for the answer.

Sasori jumped off the counter he had been sitting on and walked to the door on the south side of the kitchen. "Leader wants to see us. He told me to come find you. And heads up he sounded pissed so I suggest you hurry up." There was a bit of humor in Sasori's voice and he even gave Deidara a slight smirk before walking out the kitchen door. Sasori always had the sickest sense of humor when it came to Deidara.

Deidara closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He put down his empty coffee mug and walked in the opposite direction his partner had taken. _What the hell could I have possibly done now?_

He ran over his movements for the last forty eight hours and found nothing that should have caught the attention of Pein. Well that was he found nothing that should have warranted pissing him off, Pein saw and knew everything that his members did. He hadn't done anything other than train with the other members and a few personal activates. He threw his towel on the bed and quickly put on a pair of black pants and a black shirt with a mesh shirt on top of it. Taking a deep breath he walked back into his bathroom and tied his hair up into a ponytail, parting a small amount of it to cover his scope eye. He gave his reflection a once over and then walked out of his room and off to the Leader's office.

He was mildly surprised when he arrived to find all the other members present as well. "What's going on un?" He asked as the door slammed shut behind him, that was most definitely not a good sign.

"Deidara where have you been these last couple weeks? Have you been leaving the base at night? Going to Iwa?" Pein asked. He hadn't even bothered to open his eyes when Deidara walked into the room.

"No un. I've been here every night." Deidara was becoming more and more confused by the second. He truly hadn't done anything let alone gone near the village that he had forsaken.

"Then explain the recent attack on Iwa. Attacks actually, but last night was the worst to date. Several of my spies swear they saw someone flying around on a bird dropping bombs. And the destruction is a perfect match for your fighting style." Now Pein had opened his eyes and was staring straight at Deidara who was simply looking around puzzled. Deidara hadn't even been out of the base besides training in the last six months. Every since he joined he had only been training and well training. He hadn't even seen a scrap of news let alone heard about an attack on Iwa.

Before Deidara could answer Kisame cut in. "That attack was three nights ago. Itachi and I heard about it on our way back from Suna. Deidara was pretty badly hurt when we got back the next day. Hidan was bragging about how he had beaten him in battle even after having both his arms blown off."

"Damn straight I did! And I did a god damn good job of it. Nearly sacrificed him, if it hadn't have been for Sasori. The little bastard definitely deserved it though, all his bragging and shit. Someone needs to take his little ass down a peg-." Hidan was abruptly cut off when Kakuzu reached over and smashed him across the head.

"Shut up already." Konan stepped in before a fight could break out amongst the two of them.

"They're both right Pein. He couldn't have done this even if he wanted to. Plus the logs say that he hasn't gone anywhere." Konan said. To prove what she said she handed him one of the files she had been carrying. He gave it a once over and nodded.

"Logs can be altered."

Deidara tried to defend himself. "But you yourself watch over everything we do! And even when you're busy the other members would not let me get away with anything. No one here likes me enough to cover for me like that."

All the members gave small sounds or motions of agreement.

"You give me your word that this was not you?"

"Yes Leader-sama, my word."

"Fine, I choose to believe you but remember what I told you when you joined Deidara. I won't stand being lied to, if I find out that you were in fact part of this you will be in hell." Pein's ringed eyes stared at Deidara almost as though he could see into his soul.

Deidara nodded and then his blood ran cold as a thought popped into his head. "I didn't do this but can you tell me, the Tsuchikage and his family. Did they survive?"

Pein looked up at him with softer ringed eyes. "I believe you. But that brings me to a question of my own. Do you know anyone in Iwa who could have done this? As far as the Tsuchikage goes all I know at the moment so far is that his wife is dead and his daughter escaped uninjured. He himself suffered some bad burns but beyond that he is fine. It wasn't anything serious and he's going to live. From what the spies tell me the attack was concentrated on his tower so this is someone with a grudge. Despite my knowledge of your movements I still had to ask. I know you're not the only person with a grudge against Iwa and him but all the same I needed to ask. Honestly I wondered if you would lie and take credit for it."

Deidara closed his eyes in relief and took a second to calm himself down. His heart had been racing the whole time he waited to hear what had happened to her. When he was sure that he could talk without giving away the relief he felt he answered the question before him. "When I was in Iwa there were several explosion experts but none that could do something like this. They were all fiercely loyal to the Tsuchikage. By now several of them have probably died for him so that takes the number down. There are a few others spread out in the other hidden villages. I know each of their styles. Do you have any details on it? The more I know about the actual explosions the more I can narrow it down and pick someone out for you. Also any files you have on a few people that I can name for you would be helpful."

Konan walked over and handed him the other file she had been holding. Deidara opened It briefly and gave it a once over before tucking it under his arm. "I'll look at it as soon as we're done here yeah."

"Actually you'll be looking at it while we're on our way to Iwa." Konan cast a grim smile as Pein stood up from behind his desk. All the other members looked confused as they waited for him to go around to the front of his desk. Finally Itachi, surprisingly, was the one to break the questioning air.

"Why are we going to Iwa? With this recent attack they're going to be on high alert. Aren't we still trying to keep a low profile?"

"We are trying to keep a low profile yes. But there is a person of interest that I wish to take from Iwa and now seems like the perfect time. Hit the village while it's weak that is. We will be going in disguise. And it's going to be the perfect time for another reason also. Konan if you will."

"In a week the funeral for the Tsuchikage's wife will be held. The village will be finishing it's clean up between today and tomorrow. Starting tomorrow foreign diplomats will begin pouring into Iwa in order to pay their respect and give condolences. High alert or not they won't notice a few other diplomats popping up. We're going to…take out one set on their way to Iwa. To be specific we're going to take out the diplomats from Kumogakure. They'll be easy to impersonate."

"We need to be at a certain location in exactly seven hours which means we will be leaving the base in two. You have the next two hours to pack anything and everything that you're going to need for this mission. We could be gone for awhile so pack heavily. Take nothing that can identify you as the criminal you are or your village. Are there any questions?" Pein halted and looked around the group. No one said anything. "Very well. Go pack. Put your cloaks and the rest of your uniforms in your luggage under a concealment jutsu. You may or may not need them. I haven't decided yet. You're dismissed."

All the other members quickly left the room until only Deidara, Konan, and Pein were left. Pein raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Yes Deidara?"

"You're going after Winter aren't you? You knew I didn't do this but you had to make sure because you think it may have been her."

Pein nodded his head. "Yes but you have no reason to become hostile. I in no way intend to harm her. But at the same time I don't intend to recruit her. I simply don't want her running around as a possible weapon for Iwa. She's dangerous. Just like you were. All I want is for her to be here, with us, and out of the way of my oncoming storm. Plus you made a promise to her remember? You told her that you would go back for her after you joined the Akatsuki and were strong enough to protect her. Well I think it's time to fulfill that little promise don't you? And you should definitely pay respect to your mother."

Deidara set his legs in a stiff stance as Pein spoke, his breath was taken away when Pein mentioned his promise. "How did you know about that? All of that?"

"I told you I have my spies. That's no secret. But I also have other ways that you don't need to know about. Maybe one day I'll tell you. For now go pack and don't spend too much time thinking on it. It'll throw you off when I need you to focus. I need to know if seeing Winter again is going to be too much for you though. Tell me now because the role I need you to play cannot be blown just because you can't contain yourself."

Deidara rapidly shook his head as he finally relaxed. "No I'm going to be just fine I swear. I feel that you should know though that her bloodline limit hadn't manifested while I was there. And considering she was nine and that's about the time when mine became fully active I should think that if it was going to appear it would have by then." Deidara turned around and headed for the door, he paused just as he was going to pass the threshold. "I know this is a sign of weakness and stuff but… Thank you Pein-sama." That said Deidara exited Pein's office and ran off to his room to pack, a slight hop in his step. Parts of his puzzle were falling into place and he didn't even have to move them.

As he went he couldn't help the happiness that he felt but the darker part of his mind kept reminding him that this much good could never happen without some form of a bad repercussion.

In his office Pein turned to Konan and spoke. "Yes Konan?"

"If you're not recruiting her then why do you really want her here? It can't seriously be plainly because you don't want Iwa to have her. If that was the case you would have wiped out ever single secret weapon of every hidden village long ago. And Deidara said so himself. She didn't have a bloodline limit. So what is it really?"

Pein gave a chuckle and turned his back on her heading for his own room. He was already packed but he was going to double check. "Even you will have to wait to find out the truth on that Konan. Don't fret. All will be known in due time. As far as her blood line limit. Well you of all people should know that bloodline limits don't always show up at the same age. What's with the questions, normally you don't really wonder this much. On a side note you need to grab all the files on explosion experts and such that we have, pack them in your stuff so that Deidara can read them as well during the trip."

"I do not doubt your leadership or anything Pein. I just wondered why you were risking this after you stressed that we should keep our heads down. And I will make sure that I have them all." Konan gave him a polite nod and then excited the office.

Pein chuckled to himself. "All in due time."

* * *

In Iwa Winter paced her room from wall to wall. Well that is the room that she had been shoved into. Her room had been destroyed in the attack and her whole family had been relocated to a safe house that only the higher ups in the government knew about. It was still in the city but it was somewhere random. Hell she had grown up running around Iwa and even she didn't know where she was.

All the same the room was more of a cell. There were no windows and the living room was combined with the bedroom to make it one giant living space. Unlike prisoners though she had a walled off bathroom and a kitchen with a little dinning set, the room was also decorated in a way that was designed to make her feel comfortable. It would have been the perfect one room apartment if it weren't for the no windows thing.

Winter picked up the nearest thing to her which happened to be her coffee mug and threw it at the wall. She grabbed the purple lamp that had been next to it and was about to throw it when the door burst open and in stepped Aoi. She stopped her arm mid throw and glanced at him before sending the lamp to shatter inches from his head.

"Hi would you like to tell me what the fuck is going on? No one has talked to me since they put me in the god forsaken room hours ago! Not even the servants who bring my food talk to me."

Aoi leaned against the wall and waited for her to put down the vase that she had picked up and was prepared to throw before speaking. "You need to calm down. The whole city is under lockdown and all of this is being done to keep you safe. By the way, I heard you managed to escape and get outside. And instead of running you trained." He raised a questioning eyebrow. "Care to explain that?"

"Keep me safe? What the hell? I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself thank you! In case you haven't noticed I'm not some spoiled Kage's daughter who can't handle her own in battle. And I went outside to train because it made me feel a little better. Although I see now that I should have run. They dragged me back here kicking and screaming when they found me. BUT! I did manage to do some damage to one of them so yay for me." Winter picked the vase back up and threw it down at her feet.

"Yes I'm aware of this. But they aren't just worried about you being physically hurt. They worry about how you're going to react when you find out that your mom is dead."Aoi broke out laughing as he finished his statement, he knew he should have no sense of humor after delivering the news that he just did but he couldn't help himself. Winter stilled her pacing and turned to fully face Aoi.

"My mom is dead?" She waited for Aoi to nod and then continued. "Okay wonderful fuck it. Honestly you can't expect me to actually care. Please tell me you aren't expecting a breakdown or even a tear. Cause newsflash it isn't going to happen. And is it safe to assume that that laughter is your way of celebrating her death?"

"Oh I'm not. The village elders are but I'm not. The funeral for your mom will be a week from now. And you know I'm laughing at you not the death of your mom. I'm sorry but my sense of humor isn't quite as dark as yours kiddo. Starting tomorrow the cleanup will be complete and the funeral plans begin. So seeing as your father will want you by his side to receive the foreign diplomats you're probably going to be released tonight or early tomorrow. So stop going nuts. Next order of business, try not to be a heartless bitch when it comes down to things. If you have to fake the hell out of it but don't be heartless."

Winter started pacing again, rolling her eyes as she went. "I make no promises. And father dearest. How is he doing?"

Aoi glanced over his shoulder and looked down the hall. His time was running out. "Your father is fine. He suffered some burns but all things aside he's still alive. And my time has run out because here come the village elders. I know you don't feel it but at least try to forge some sadness or something."

Winter shook her head and went to sit down on her bed. Aoi joined her there a second later, placing his hand on her back in a consoling gesture. She counted down the seconds until the elders arrived. She could hear their footsteps already. Three seconds later they were standing in the doorway looking puzzled and wondering what Aoi was doing there. Winter was doubled over with her face in her hands, making the smallest of whimpering noises.

She gave them a second to stand dumbstruck before looking up with tears running down her cheeks. "He says my mom is dead, is that true?" Her voice quivered perfectly and one of the female elders rushed over and swept her up in a hug. The head elder turned scolding eyes on Aoi.

"You told her?"Aoi nodded and waited for hell to break lose.

The elders all seemed to let out a slight sigh of relief because they didn't want to deal with an emotional Winter but then they all seemed to quickly flash to rage. "We were supposed to tell her not you Aoi. You're overstepping your bounds."

Aoi stood up and walked to the door, stopping to stand right in front of them. "I just thought it would be better for her to hear it from someone she knew better. Someone who had a good idea of how she would react. Obviously she's upset but taking it like a good kunoichi. I suggest you let her out of here sometime soon though because she's going stir crazy." With a condescending smile he side stepped them and continued out the doorway.

The elder holding her asked Winter if she wanted to leave. Her answer was just to nod and stand up, whipping in vain at her tears as if she was trying to bottle up her emotions.

"I suppose you can leave. But be careful and stay with your security detail. We don't want anything to happen to you. You'll be staying somewhere else tonight since everything has calmed down." That said they each gave short nods and shuffled out of the room. Winter took one last glance around and then quickly ran out of the room and out into the hallway. She stopped only for a second to make sure she knew her directions before running to the exit. Her tears instantly dried up and she actually dared to let a smile split her face.

* * *

Deidara sighed as he finally finished packing. Everything he needed had been consolidated into two bags. One of which was filled with just a ton of extra clay. He checked his bags over one last time to make sure he had everything and then threw them both over his shoulder and headed to the main exit.

Pein glanced around to make sure everyone was there and then nodded as Konan stumbled into the room.

Sasori stared at everyone's bags. Each of them hadn't packed many, the largest amount that anyone had was four. Konan on the other hand seemed to have packed a ton of things. She had only two bags but each was bulging with a ton of stuff in it and the weight of them seemed to be throwing her off balance. He raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

She heaved a sigh and explained. "Each bag contains a ton of shrunken other bags that contain all the costumes and stuff we could possibly need for this mission. I wasn't entirely sure what we would need so this might be overkill. Much better safe than sorry."

Sasori excepted the explanation with a nod and went back to minding his own business,

Pein turned around and headed off into the night, the members fanning out and following him. They had left ten minutes earlier than scheduled which would mean they had a little wiggle room when it came to how fast the needed to move. But only a little.

As the door to the Akatsuki's base slid shut each member was engulfed in the night.

**

* * *

-x-

* * *

Author's Note:** I had to do it! I really did. I just couldn't stand the bad writing I had done for this. But I promise no more rewriting, at least not for a long time. After I redo chapter two. Then we get to move onward. I swear it. So in reality you may be getting a new chapter today.


	2. Chapter 002: A Thousand Plans To Be Made

Deidara let his eyes slid close as Pein stopped inches in front of him. On both sides of him Sasori and Kisame stopped and instantly began to look around to make sure that there was no threat. Five seconds later everything seemed to be fine and they joined the circle that had formed around Pein. He signaled for absolute silence and then began to speak after making absolute sure that no one was around to surprise them himself.

"In about five minutes the diplomats are going to be passing through here. Kisame and Itachi you're going to be taking out the first three guards. Hidan and Kakuzu your going to take out the hiding ANBU. Zetsu and Tobi stay hidden and if they try to sound an alarm stop them at all costs. Konan and I will take out the guards in the back. Deidara and Sasori you two are going to take care of the diplomats themselves. Kill them if necessary but I would like to keep them alive. Does everyone understand?" Pein looked each of the members in the eye in turn and each of them nodded. Finally he nodded himself and jumped up into a tree.

"Leave your bags in a tree, hide them well and then go a little further to the east and get ready. We have two minutes until the fight and this needs to go off perfectly. I'm not a hundred percent sure but there's a chance that some Iwa-nin will be present also. If they are then I'll refigure my plan and you'll all know what to do. If they aren't then they'll be showing up later. That I can easily deal with."

Deidara once again nodded and proceeded to follow the order to put his bag away before taking out a bird that he had premade and enlarging it. With a deep breath to take his nerves from jittery and nervous to icy and cool he jumped onto the bird and turned towards Sasori. "Are you coming danna yeah?"

Sasori shook his head and pulled out a scroll. "You know I'll never willingly fly on your monstrosities. Now leave me alone and try not to kill yourself while you're dodging trees more often than other shinobi. Or do kill yourself. It's not like it harms me."

Deidara just shook his head and decided to let his danna have his simple win this once, he didn't feel like rising to the bait on this occasion. The trees that they were currently in were on the edge of the border to the fire country, they were spread out and the bird was small enough to weave in and out without too much trouble. Deidara would do fine.

Pein cut his eyes over to Sasori and Deidara. He glanced over at Konan and raised his hand, signaling her to come closer. When she was within speaking range he leaned in and began to whisper in her ear. He didn't need the other members knowing what was up.

"What's with the two of them? I would have thought the constant training sessions were going to help that little kink between them?" Konan shook her head in frustration and reached up to rub her eyes before replying.

"I told you when Deidara first joined us that this was going to happen. All you saw was that they were both artists. You did what you always do when you assumed that they would work well together. Their thoughts on art are going to constantly keep them apart. And now it's too late for you to break up their team. You should have done that in the first weeks. But no you just couldn't listen!" Pein brought up his finger to his mouth and signaled for Konan to lower her voice again. Towards the end of her rant she had gotten to loud and drawn the attention of Hidan and Kisame. They were the only two left in the clearing.

Konan sent them a glare and they each rushed to finish hiding their bags before running off to join the rest of the group.

"I refuse to say that you were right Konan. I still think they'll work well together. Plus the other teams were already crafted when he arrived. What would you have had me do? I couldn't risk screwing up another partnership just because you had a feeling that theirs wouldn't work out. They will get past their differences. And if not then they will learn to set them aside in the name of our mission. As it stands keep a close eye on them during this mission. I need everyone sharp for this and their bickering is only going to get worse while we're doing this mission."

Konan glared at Pein for a second before rolling her eyes and giving him a curt nod. Pein ran his fingers through his hair in slight frustration before jumping out of the tree and down to the ground. He turned around to say one last thing but then thought better of it when he saw a set of origami butterflies taking off in the general direction he needed to go.

Pein sped up his leisurely pace when he heard an explosion just a few inches in front of him; he should have instructed Deidara to not use his bombs. He could only hope that they wouldn't draw to much attention from anyone who was unlucky enough to be in the area. He didn't want to high of a body count on this one.

* * *

Winter sighed in pure pleasure as she sat on the rooftop of some random building. Glancing out across Iwa she smiled at the pure destruction she saw, it was truly beautiful. It was a shame that she hadn't gotten to see what it looked like right after they put the fires out. The still smoldering buildings must have looked amazing.

"Aoi told me that you took the news about your mom pretty well. You even managed to freak out the elders. Nice job. What are you thinking about little one?" Winter idly ran her fingers through her hair, watching the strands slip through her fingers like water before shifting to look at the man standing next to her in full ANBU gear and a white kitten mask.

"Hello Hitomi. I was just imagining how lovely the city must have looked while it was still burning. I would have loved to have seen it you know? I wish those stupid ninja hadn't thought it would be such a wonderful idea to throw me in prison." Winter let one of her delighted smiles slip onto her face. She often wondered just how far she could push Aoi or Hitomi before they finally got that she could be a little monster and left her alone.

"Hmm you're very right it was lovely. You definitely should have been out here to see it. But by no means were you thrown in a prison love. You were simply tucked away for safe keeping like a mother rabbit hides her cubs. And from what I know that apartment was specifically designed for you. You should have been happy." Hitomi reached up and pulled off his mask as Winter gave a snort in disgust.

"What else do you call a small space with no windows? Fancy it up as much as you wish to, I was still kept there against my will with no way of getting out on my own. It was prison. And a rabbit doesn't have cubs." Hitomi sat down and pulled Winter into his lap, she almost growled when she heard his chest rumbling with suppressed laughter.

"I call it a safe house. And it was for your own good. If you had been out here half the ninja in the city would have been spending more time worrying about you than doing their actual jobs. Annnnnd I don't care what a rabbit has. The theory applies because cubs are still children. And according to Aoi you did get out at one point. Therefore it wasn't prison because you were able to easily escape." Hitomi gave Winter's middle a tight squeeze and then stood up pulling her up with him. "Now come on we need to get your cute little butt back to your apartment and your security detail. Good job on ditching them by the way. Now climb on."

Winter sighed and jumped up onto Hitomi's back. "Why didn't they assign you and Aoi to me? At least you guys would have been only a step behind me when I broke out of that supposed 'amazing security' system they had set up. And they're all over my apartment. They wrecked half the stuff while I was still there searching for bombs and such."

"Diplomats love. We have to sort out the good ones from the spies and they also needed extra protection. You know some of the countries still don't get along but they're all here to pay their respect to the dead. Your father has dispatched all available ANBU to spy on the incoming diplomats and take out the suspicious ones before they get to the city. It will cause much less of a commotion that way. After I get you back Aoi's team and I are going to go scout our next group. And why should you need top notch security miss I can take care of myself a thousand times better than any ANBU."

Winter shifted her eyes to the left, watching the scenery as Hitomi slowly went back to her apartment. She focused her attention back on Hitomi when his tone turned sarcastic, sighing and hitting him over the head as he finished his final statement. "Shut up and put me down. I can walk back on my own. If dad wants you out on a mission then you should follow his orders instead of wasting time on me. Now get. I'll be fine."

Hitomi stopped and sat her down. Rolling his eyes he leaned against a wall and gazed off into the distance. He could let her walk home; it was only another six or so blocks. "Go straight home. And calm your little butt down, things will get better just keep playing your role."

"Fake what you don't feel." Aoi jumped down from the roof he had been standing on and landed next to Hitomi, throwing his arm around his shoulders. "You're really going to let her walk home alone?"

Hitomi turned towards Aoi and shrugged his shoulders. "She wants to go home alone and you know how she gets. Plus the sooner we get underway the sooner we get back. And above all it's not like criminals are roaming the street waiting to beat and rob her. She'll be fine." He shrugged off the arm and pushed off the wall. "Now let's go. See you in two days love. Be a very good girl for you security." With a smile and a pat to her head Hitomi jumped onto the roof to wait for Aoi.

"Yes be a perfect angel now." He said with a sadistic chuckle as he leaned forward and gave her cheek a brief lick before joining Hitomi on the roof.

With a huff of fake frustration Winter waved goodbye and watched them head to the city wall as she turned and headed further into its core. It wasn't long before her apartment was in sight and she noticed that her security seemed to have noticed that she was gone. It seemed they were just seconds short of sounding the alarm when she was spotted and things calmed down for a moment while they located their team leader.

"Miss where have you been? You shouldn't leave without us! It still isn't safe! Go inside, your father is on his way."

All of Winter's snappish replies were cut off when she heard the head guard's last word. Her thoughts stopped midsentence and she tried not to scream as she threw open her apartment door and ran into the bathroom. She stripped quickly before practically throwing herself into the shower.

"Kaishu was it? How far away is he? Why is he coming? And is someone coming with him or is it just my father?" She shouted to be heard over the water as she reached for the shampoo and began to scrub her hair. Her questions would help her best decide in what state her father wished her to be dressed when he arrived. Since this visit was unannounced she would hope that Kaishu knew enough.

"He hasn't even left the remains of his tower yet. He said that the two of you needed to talk. And I know for a fact that he is bringing the funeral planner with him along with a few elders. He hadn't said anything else." Winter nodded and rinsed off the suds that coated her body. Reaching out of the shower she grabbed the nearest towel and threw it around herself, nearly knocking Kaishu off his feet when she ran from the shower and into her bedroom.

Stopping only a second to throw open the closet door she speedily ran to the section labeled kimonos and began to sort through them looking for the perfect one. As her eyes ran across each kimono in turn she pulled out a pair of tabi socks and slid them on. Her eyes finally landed on the perfect black and white kimono, it was elegant but modest with a simple design and only moderately formal.

The sleeves were long and went well past her wrists, coving her hands. On the inner sleeve simple white stitching ran up and down forming a tree branch with a simple flower hanging onto it on the right sleeve and a branch with a small swallow on the left. On the skirt there were many elaborately stitched trees that ran up to her waist, each of their branches near bare except for a few small flowers and the occasional bird. Each bird and flower was different from the rest. Towards the bottom there were hints of blue weaving through the tree roots to suggest a stream running through the background. It was absolutely perfect for the grieving daughter who was supposed to be helping to plan a funeral.

Winter pulled the kimono down and went to lay it on the bed. When it was safely taking up almost her whole bed she went over to the mirror and rubbed the rest of her hair dry with a towel. Satisfied that it wouldn't drip she quickly flipped it over her shoulder and began to weave it together into a tight braid. As soon as she was sure that it would hold on its own she went back to her closet and slid a pair of sandals to the door, just in case they went out.

She stepped from the closet after sliding on her undergarments and opened her bedroom door, calling out. "Hey which of you takes directions really well or already knows how to tie an obi and slid on a kimono?"

A kunoichi stood up and raised her hand. Winter nodded her head and the girl walked back into her room, Winter shut the door behind her and went to where she had laid the kimono out on the bed. "We need to be fast. For the most part you're just going to need to hold a lot."

Winter quickly pulled on each piece of the kimono, directing the girl the few times she needed it. She was truly good at it which suggested that she had had practice. _Probably on some mission._ Winter thought as she watched the Kunoichi reach for the koshi-himo belt. "Miss might I ask? Why this kimono? It seems to be on the more festive side. Not that it isn't elegant and very beautiful! It is and the black is proper for grieving but the trees and their height mixed with the birds and flowers make it seem active and happy."

Winter pulled up the kimono until it was at the height of her ankles and held onto it while the girl began to tie the date-jime belt around the extra cloth. "Chika you've obviously had experience with kimonos. I doubt I should need to explain to you how to interrupt them."

Chika gave the cord a tug to hold it tight and then finished the knot, pulling the excess fabric down over it. Winter handed her the obi sash and she began to work on it as she spoke. "I have had experience as you said but it was mostly on missions. I only learned how to do this as part of my ANBU training in the event that I should ever have to go in the disguise of a geisha or simple noble's wife. My training in this was nowhere near as detailed as the level you've probably had. They didn't waste time teaching us the symbolism."

Winter finally handed over the obi-jimi belt and held out her arms as it was tied. "If I have the time I'll explain it to you when we're done." For all the chords they had just tied this should have been considered a formal kimono but it wasn't.

Winter walked over to the mirror and made sure that her reflection was perfect. When she was satisfied she went and opened the door and then sat on her bed, patting the space next to her for Chika.

"The branches on the trees are bare and only a few flowers cling to them, this is solitude because no flower has the company of another on the same branch which is the same as having no company at all. Each of the birds are different which suggest that they have been separated from their mates. Loneliness. And finally the stream represents pure sadness. Water is always sadness. Each of these emotions is felt when you grieve and the black is the traditional color for grieving. Get it? It's just basic symbolism for the most part."

Chika nodded her head. "It seems so simple now that you explain it and I feel so silly for asking."

Winter stood up, brushing out the wrinkles that didn't fall on their own. She gave a small truly kind smile as she patted the girl's hand. "Don't feel silly. I know what it's like to not have time to learn what you wish about an art. You're welcome to ask me questions when they arise. I'm not the absolute best at this by any means but I will do my best to answer them. I'm about to go put water on for tea. Would you like to learn a bit about different teas and what they mean and do?"

Chika thought about it for a second and then shook her head. "No I'm supposed to be protecting you not bugging you. Plus I'm sure that Kaishu will have something for me to do."

"Well you can guard me from the evils of the kitchen and I'll just talk to myself about tea and you can happen to overhear. Kaishu can find someone else to appease his tasks." Winter walked from the room before an answer could be given.

Kaishu darted into her path as she headed for the kitchen. "Your father will be here in the next twenty or so minutes."

Winter nodded and then stepped around him and continued onward. She took out the largest kettle she could find and put it on the iris. She told Chika which cabinet contained the tea she needed and instructed her to pull them out while she took down her braid and twisted it into a bun that was shaped like a large rose. On either side of the bun and her face long strands of hair hung down in thin strips with light curls.

"Okay here we go." She said before launching into what would be a long explanation.

* * *

Aoi sighed as Hitomi tapped him on the shoulder. He had followed Winter back to her apartment just to make sure that she was ok and was sitting on the roof across from her bedroom window. watching her prepare. "Time to go."

"Everyone's ready?"

"Yes."

"Alright." Aoi cast Winter one last fleeting look as she left her bedroom before standing and sliding his mask onto his face and taking off in the direction of the wall. Hitomi was right by his side.

"Which diplomats are we taking this time? And you know I'm pretty sure that when Deidara asked us to watch her he didn't mean we should do it in pervy pedophile ways."

Aoi smiled. "You know that in no way was I watching her for that purpose. On a side note though it seems as if she's getting along with the newest graduates from the ANBU academy. Or at least she gets along with Chika and didn't try to kill Kaishu. And for accusing me of being a pedophile I will not tell you which diplomats we're going after."

Hitomi resisted the urge to poke his friend when he landed in front of his team. "Gentlemen I think you should know that your captain is a pedophile."

Aoi's eyes twitched under his mask. He brought his hands up and began to sign as the masks of his team turned to look at him with what would probably be shocked or questioning expressions if he could see their faces. Hitomi laughed and began to run as Aoi finished his second to last sign before taking off after him.

* * *

Deidara glanced around at the other Akatsuki members as he waited for Pein and Konan to appear. According to Kisame and Hidan they were having a small scale fight.

Deidara sighed as the diplomats convey entered his line of vision. He spat a Swallow out of his left palm and a Pigeon out of the right and began to count to ten while sending them to hover in the air. When he reached ten and Konan and Pein still hadn't shown up he sent the birds over to the leading guards.

Itachi glared at him from his position across the clearing and mouthed stop but it was too late. Deidara yelled Katsu just as Konan appeared behind him.

Konan's eyes went wide as she saw two objects flutter over to the guards; she reached out the hand that was still forming to stop Deidara but was a second too late. She watched as they stared in shock at the birds that had landed on each other's heads before realization dawned on their faces. The second they figured out what was happening they were two seconds to late to actually do anything.

Pein popped up right in front of Deidara. She could tell from his expression that he wasn't at all happy that Deidara had started without them or that he had used his bombs. Reaching forward he grabbed Deidara's shirt and jumped down to the ground, calling to Konan over his shoulder.

"Start stripping the bodies and cutting them up. The rest of you do your parts. Take their clothes while you're at it." He turned to Deidara when they were only a few feet away from the ensuring battle.

"Unless you can keep your explosions contained and quiet don't use your bombs right now. Since there aren't Iwa-nin here right now they're likely to be on their way and if they hear the bombs they'll know something's up." Deidara stared dumbstruck as Pein hopped away to help Konan.

"There's no such thing as a quiet explosion!" He yelled as he joined Sasori in taking the politicians from their carriage.

"Then don't be stupid enough to use your bombs brat. Simple as that. Now get serious." Sasori murmured as he stuck a senbon needle into the neck of the guard who had been sitting inside. The nobles looked up at them with defiant eyes.

"You shouldn't do this. We are diplomats from the Village Hidden in the Clouds. Ambassadors. Your taking us will spark a dispute between our village and the Hidden Stone Village." Deidara reached forward and clamped his hand around the throat of the man who was speaking to him, effectively cutting off his air supply and voice.

"And why should we care if those two villages go to war. It will only help further our cause. Now be quiet unless you wish to die." Deidara's eyes glinted with malice as he yanked the man from his seat, his wife tumbling out behind him from when she had been hiding.

She stared up at him with fear filled eyes as Sasori pulled the two other diplomats from the carriage as well and threw them down next to her. He reached back in and pulled out one more girl. The wife of the man Deidara was holding cried out and jumped up to catch the girl when Sasori threw her over to the group.

"Please don't hurt us. Do anything you want but just don't hurt us." She whispered threw tears as she and the other girl held onto each other for dear life. Deidara shook his head and tossed the man amongst them.

"Stand up and strip. You can keep your underwear and socks but we want everything else. Including your headbands." Each of them stood in turn and began to strip, following Sasori's commands to the letter for fear of what he might do to them. Deidara collected all of their clothes and neatly folded them, setting them aside to be dealt with later.

"Hold out your hands to be tied. Make any sudden movements or attempts to escape and I will start by blowing off your fingers un. One. By. One. Sasori-danna do you have anything stronger than rope?"

Sasori nodded his head and pulled out several cords of something shiny and metallic. "This should do the trick." He tossed three of the ropes to Deidara and kept the rest for himself, moving towards the group and binding two sets of hands. Deidara did the other three.

"Leader-sama we're done with no casualties." Sasori glanced around and saw that everyone else was also done. He cut his eyes over to Pein. "What do we do now?"

Pein looked up from where he was burning a corpse and signaled for everyone to wait a moment. Turning back to his work he increased the power of his jutsu until all that was left of the body was its blackened bones.

He walked over and kneeled before the diplomats, stripping off his cloak as he went. "Ok here are my rules. Don't lie to me, don't attempt to ask me questions, and above all don't stall. I very much dislike stalling. Let's start with your names."

All three of the men glared defiantly into the eyes of Pein. He sighed and reached for the arm of the female that Sasori had pulled out last. The elder of the two left out a small shriek and began to spout out each of their names in turn. Pein withdrew his hand and reached up to rub his piercings.

"Calm down and start again. I can't understand you if your hysterical." The female nodded and tried to calm down.

"I'm Meiyun and the girl sitting next to me is Maidao. She's the wife of the man on the end and his name is Itsuki. I'm the wife of the man on his right and his name is Yinwei. The final man is Sukiyoi."

"Very good now tell me. Does anyone know what you're supposed to look like?" Meiyun shook her head and Pein cracked a smile._ That will save us from having to waste chakra on a straight transformation jutsu to look like them._

"Now tell me about your trip to Iwagakure. Do you have any meetings with the Tsuchikage himself?" Just as Meiyun was about to answer this time Yinwei reached over Maidao and hit her, knocking her over.

"Shut up! The more you tell him the more we become traitors to our village!" Kisame walked up behind the man and hit him over the head with the hilt of his sword. Effectively knocking him deep into unconsciousness.

Maidao flinched as Yinwei went down but scooted closer to Meiyun, trying to help her back onto her knees with little success. Hidan took pity on them and shoved the girl back up.

"I suggest that neither of you get the idea of doing what he just did. Him being knocked out was a warning but the next time that happens I'm going to just kill you. Now please continue." Pein glared each of the men down and was satisfied when he saw the fear that flashed through their eyes.

"Each of the diplomats from each of the respective villages is supposed to have face time with the Tsuchikage alone. And then there are supposed to be four mass meetings where all the diplomats will be present and interacting with each other. That's all I know."

Pein nodded his head and thought over al that he now knew. Factoring each new bit of information into his plan so that it would work to its fullest for him. He once again nodded when everything was organized in his head. "Final question. Have you run into any Iwa ANBU yet?"

Meiyun looked over to Maidao to answer this question. "Meiyun's been sick and spent most of her time in the carriage so she doesn't know. But no we haven't."

"Very good." Pein stood back up. "Alright Zetsu and Tobi take all of them back to the base and put them in the holding cells. Chain each of them to the wall and make sure that they're all in separate cages. Give them enough leeway to move around but not enough so that they can reach each other. I don't want to take any chances. Then come straight back here. We should be almost done by the time you get back. Tobi you're going to need to move faster than Zetsu because you're going to need to change also."

Zetsu and Tobi nodded, each picking up the diplomats. Tobi took only two so that he would be able to move faster, he nodded to his partner to make sure he'd be fine before disappearing in a flash. They all watched as Zetsu melted into the ground, no one having seen him transport more than one person at a time.

Konan looked to Pein and took charge of the situation when he nodded at her. "Alright now start stripping while I go back and grab everyone's bags. I should have enough uniforms for everyone. Leader-sama will inform you of what role each of you will be playing." Konan finished her speech with an impatient wave of her hand and took off towards where they had left their bags in a flurry of butterflies.

"Deidara you're going to be using the _Oiroke Jutsu_ to transform yourself into a girl and will be posing as Sasori's wife. Sasori you're going to be posing as a diplomat. Itachi you're also going to be posing as a diplomat and I'll be the final one with Konan as my wife. Kisame and Kakuzu you two will be using the _Henge Jutsu _in order to make yourself look normal. You will be the head guards and as such will ride in front of the carriage and drive the horses. You can decide between yourselves who gets to drive. Hidan you're also going to play a guard." Pein paused for a moment as both Konan and Tobi appeared in his line of vision. He waited for them to join the huddle before continuing.

"Tobi you're going to be a servant. Zetsu won't be able to play a role this time around. Each of you will need to gather information and your roles are ideal to help you do just that. Are there any objections or last minute questions?"

Hidan let a huge smile split his face as he slowly rotated his head to look at Deidara who was slightly sulking. "Blondie gets to play a girl!"

"Hidan shut up!"Kakuzu yelled at his partner with a blow to the head. Pein sighed as he watched this.

"Any serious questions or comments?"

"How long is this mission going to take?" Itachi asked. He and Kisame had started to strip the second Pein was done with his explanation and were already down to their pants. Deidara stared at them with open mouths. He cut in before Pein could answer his question.

"Don't you have any sense of modesty yeah?! Konan probably doesn't want to see all this!" He said as he turned bright red. The rest of the organization turned to stare at him and Deidara turned bright red and started playing with the hem of his shirt, sending Hidan into another fit of mocking laughter.

Sasori shook his head. "Okay if you have a problem with changing around people then go find a tree and huddle behind it. But don't try to hide your insecurities behind chivalry."

Deidara's head snapped up and he was about to whip out a chilly reply when Pein cut in. "At the worst this mission should last about two months. If everything goes ok it shouldn't take longer than two weeks. Sasori you're going to need to switch into one of your puppet bodies. It didn't occur to me to tell you that earlier. It should still be male and preferably not someone to popular. If you can manage it then don't use one of your once human puppets at all. Everyone just go change since no one seems to have a serious question."

Sasori pulled out a new scroll and began to go through it as everyone else began to strip and pull on the outfits Pein or Konan handed them. Zetsu came back just in time to start loading everyone's loading their belongings into the carriage. Pein turned to him as he slipped into his own clothes.

"Zetsu travel through the ground behind us. Stay hidden unless I call for you."

**

* * *

-x-

* * *

**

**Author's Note:** Alrighty folks. Sorry this wasn't out yesterday but I just couldn't figure out what I wanted to do towards the end. I think I made Pein talk way too much but it couldn't be avoided. Hmm. I don't know but I also don't want to rewrite this. I'm kind of feeling underappreciated though guys. Can't someone drop me one itsy bitsy little review to show me some love? I would greatly appreciate it!


	3. Chapter 003: Oh The Illusions We Hold

Winter stood at the front door to her apartment waiting for someone to knock. She had finished making tea with Chika a little while ago and was now merely waiting for her father to show up, but it was taking forever and she was getting steadily more anxious as the time passed.

Winter reached up and pulled out her hair pins, once again rearranging her hair to make sure that it was perfect. When she was satisfied she finally gave up on standing by the door and returned to the kitchen. Hopping up onto the counter she glared at the cabinet across from her. Chika looked up at her with a question in her expression. Winter turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Is your father here already? Because I'm not done setting the tray or the table." Chika asked, never stopping her movements, if anything she sped them up.

Winter answered her with a negative shake of her head. "Nope. It's been almost two hours to. This is getting massively frustrating."

Chika gave her a warm smile that made Winter want to throw up. _For someone in ANBU she's way too happy and positive. You would think all the tests she just went through to reach this level would have beaten all true happiness out of her._ "Take a chill pill Winter. I'm sure that he's busy. He'll be here when he gets here. You are his daughter after all, I'm sure he won't keep you waiting much longer. Just relax."

Winter rolled her eyes and stood up on the counter. Pulling her skirts up so that they wouldn't catch her legs she jumped from the counter to the island in the center of the kitchen. From there she reached out and grabbed a knife from one of the drawers, using it to gesture to the fridge.

"Hand me the salmon on the top shelf in the fridge. I'm going to start rolling them so you won't have to do quite so much work." Chika briefly quit her actions of moving around tea into various tea bags to do as she was asked.

"Are you just going to make cold sushi or are you going to make something else as well?" She asked as she set down all the items Winter would need as well as a cutting board.

Winter gave another negative shake of her head. "**We** are going to make several items. Both hot and cold. " She said putting special emphasis on the we part.

Chika cast a slightly arrogant smirk at Winter that she pretended not to see. "I know how to cook thank you very much."

"I'm sure you do. But you started me into teacher mode and as such I intend to fully take advantage of this and teach you as much as I can think of. Now you will learn to cook several things that I'm sure that you do not know how to cook or you will leave my kitchen. Simple as that."

Chika's expression went from arrogant to scared in a second. She wasn't ready for Winter's mood change. "I was just. I mean I didn't mean to piss you off I just thought you assumed I couldn't cook."

"I assume very little and I'm not pissed. Just cold and distant."

Chika shook her head and quietly went back to work. _This must be the Winter they told me about_. She thought as she finished her second to last tea bag. _But they weren't right, were they? She's not exactly frigid all the time…_

"Chika come over here. I need you to put the sushi in the freezer and then we're going to roll dumplings." Winter got off the counter and washed her knife, putting it in the dish washer to dry.

Chika snapped out of her thoughts and did the last tea bag before returning to Winter's side. "We begin with the dough. Once I put on the meat I'll give you the choice of doing this or the next project. Ok?"

Chika nodded and began paying close attention. As her eyes watched Winter go through the movements of tossing everything they needed into the blender a question popped into her head.

"Winter. I don't mean to impose or take advantage of your willingness to talk to me but I'm kind of wondering why you seem so cold now. I mean before when you found out your dad was coming you were running around and at first I thought you were excited but you weren't were you? And now I know he's late but you seem completely and totally pissed off. Wait no not pissed more so cold. I mean I-."

"Oh get to the point and ask the fucking question already. You want to know why I hate my father right?" Winter's tone was freezing cold and Chika was almost afraid to nod her head and get her answer. She should have known that it would have been a thousand times better not to ask the question in the first place.

"Because no one really sees the true him."

Chika shook her head and decided that she's already stepped through the door. It couldn't hurt to step out onto the ice…so long as she was carful where she placed her foot. "But what does that mean exactly? I mean he's a Kage. They wouldn't have picked him if he had a drinking problem or was crooked or something like that. And all eyes are constantly on him so it's not like he could have a drug problem and no one's noticed."

Winter turned around and gave her a spooky smirk that spoke volumes. With sigh that only made her seem even scarier she tilted her head to the side and spoke, making sure to pronounce each word clearly and put emphasis on it. "**Because. No. One. Knows. What. He's. Really. Like.**"

* * *

Back in the forest the Akatsuki was busy finishing their costumes. Konan had run around passing out the clothes they would need to play their parts from the bags she had packed. Everyone was surprised to see just how much she had been able to pack into those bags.

Pein looked around at the rest of the members. ""Is everyone done?

Everyone but Sasori nodded. Pein turned around to look for him and was shocked to see him getting back into Hiruko. Sasori answered the question that was buzzing around Pein's head before he got the chance to ask it.

"I'm going to seal Hiruko in a scroll and it'll just be easier if I put this body in him first and then seal it rather than trying to shove it in once I've transferred bodies."

"Wait but don't you have to transfer your heart to move bodies when you're going to be in them for awhile?" Kisame asked from his perch on the carriage.

Sasori nodded his head and beckoned Deidara over to him. "The brats going to do it for me."

Deidara rolled his eyes. "You would think that since I'm going to literally be holding your life in my hands in a few seconds you would try to be nice un. I could very easily kill you in a split second. All I'd have to do is drive a kunai through your heart yeah."

Sasori just cast him a side glare as he fully settled himself inside the puppet and reached up to take the canister containing his heart out. He stopped for two seconds and said one final thing before fully detaching the cylinder and handing it over. "I'm trusting that you won't be that petty brat. Now get this over with already."

Deidara handled the canister as if he was handling a new bomb that he had just created and knew was unstable. He wrapped both hands around the base and quickly walked over and kneeled beside the puppet Sasori had chosen. Taking a deep breath to chill himself out and stop his hands from shaking he slowly pushed the canister down into place and locked it in.

A few seconds passed with nothing happening and Deidara feared that he had done something very wrong. "Danna yeah? Are you there? Did I mess up?"

A few more seconds passed and Deidara was leaning in to poke the puppet when Sasori decided to speak and scare him senseless. "Poke me and die brat. I'm fine I was just integrating my chakra system with this body. It takes a few moments to fully lock in. Now help me up."

Deidara pulled Sasori up and helped him over to the carriage, all the while trying not to trip over his kimono. This was definitely not the best attire for moving people around in. With a small shove he got Sasori off his shoulders and leaning on the carriage. "We have a problem guys. How do we get Danna in the carriage? He definitely can't do it on his own and I'm still getting used to this form and its strengths so I can't do it."

"It's ok Deidara Kisame and I'll take care of it." Itachi said as he popped up behind Deidara. Deidara just stepped out of the way with a nod.

Once Sasori was safely seated in the carriage in a comfortable position he turned himself slightly to look back at Deidara. "Ok brat do you remember what I told you about sealing Hiroku?"

"Yes. Don't try to force it if something feels wrong. Sealing a puppet isn't as easy as I think. I know Danna you told me about seven times."

"Yes well that just means that if you don't get it right the first time you should feel horrendously embarrassed and go hide your head in shame."

Deidara flipped off Sasori and then went to put Hiruko away. Konan shook her head and sent a glare at Pein. With a sigh of pure frustration she threw her hands over her head.

"ONE OF YOU BASTARDS GET OVER HERE AND HELP ME!" She screamed in frustration as stuff overflowed from the bag she had been trying to pack for a good couple minutes. Everyone turned to stare at her in pure shock. Konan was never the type of girl who yelled in order to get what she wanted. She glared until they scrambled into action and helped her. With a puff she threw her bags into the storage area hidden below the carriage floorboard and climbed in, seating herself in a corner.

Sasori raised his eyebrow at her. "Something wrong?"

"No I just lost it a little. I'm fine. What's with you?" Sasori assumed that she meant why couldn't he move more so then why was he bothering to care. He flexed his wrist while giving her an answer.

"It just takes some time for my chakra to spread out from my heart to my new body. So moving around is a little hard until all the network has been properly connected back to the source. Do you understand?" Konan nodded and the carriage slipped back into a peaceful silence for a few seconds before Sasori remembered that he had trusted Deidara to seal his favorite puppet.

"Deidara how are you doing? It's too quiet out there!" He half said have shouted to be heard. In answer Deidara popped up and spread the scroll that contained Hiroku out in front of him across his chest.

"Look about right?" Sasori let his eyes roll over the writing. He gave a nod and slowly stretched forward to take the scroll.

Deidara shook his head and just jumped into the carriage, throwing the scroll into Sasori's bag. After taking a packet of clay out of his own bag he threw it down into the pit of bags and idly popped a small ball of clay into each hand. He needed to do something to keep him busy.

Pein and Itachi climbed into the carriage next followed by Tobi and Hidan. Everyone slid around until they were comfortably arranged and each had a little elbow room. "Alright guys were ready to go. Kisame we need to go a bit further into the forest and then we can camp for the night." Konan shouted out to the two sitting on top of the carriage. With a lurch the carriage set off deeper into the woods. The Akatsuki inside holding onto the gentle silence that had fallen between them.

Hidan was the only one uncomfortable with the lack of noise besides the light Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! Of the horses steps.

* * *

Winter's head snapped up as the kitchen door was pushed slightly open. Kaishu stepped in and closed the door behind him.

"Miss your father is here."

Winter looked up at the clock and scoffed while sliding her apron over her head. "And only five hours later than he was expected. How marvelous. Chika can you put on another kettle of water while I go greet my father?"

Chika nodded her head and did as she was asked. Finishing the layout on the trays while she was at it. Ever since she had asked Winter about her father a few hours ago and gotten an answer that was much more than she bargained for she had been very quiet.

Winter spent two seconds primping before throwing a small smile onto her face and walking out into the living room to greet her father. She stopped two steps in front of him and gave him a small bow. He returned it with a nod of the head.

"Hello Winter. How have you been? I trust you've been getting along with your bodyguards."

"Fine father. And yes we have been getting along just fine. How about yourself?"

"I've been quite alright. I was slightly injured in the incident but as you can see I'm back up and about. It was nothing to serious."

Winter nodded and swept her arm around. "Please take a seat. Might I ask what this visit pertains to?"

"Yes well as you know your mom died. It's our duty to honor her with a proper funeral. And that means that you will be helping me to make all the preparations for the funeral and pick everything out so that it goes off without a hitch. When we're done we'll begin discussing whether or not you're going to be at the meetings with the diplomats. Of course it's your duty to be at the large scale ones but the one on one's don't require your presence so they're completely and totally your choice." He said as he took a seat on a nearby cushion.

Winter slid down on the cushion to his right, tucking her kimono under her legs and trying to look a little disturbed. "Of course. Where do you want to begin?"

"Well I've already picked out a coffin so now we just need to pick out flowers, a color scheme, and music. The rest of the planning is really none of your concern since its minor and doesn't reflect much."

Chika stuck her head out from the hallway and beckoned Winter over to her.

Winter nodded to the both of them and stood back up. "Excuse me a second please I should go get the tea."

Walking back into the kitchen she leaned against the counter and stared at Chika; letting that creepy smile from before slid back onto her face. "So he seems like the perfect caring husband right? Just wait. You can observe him throughout our whole meeting and that won't change once. He'll be the perfect caring husband. And then it'll click in your head some point that it's fake. All an act. And then maybe you'll get it. Or maybe you won't and you'll slip back under his spell. I don't care. So long as you see the truth at least once. So long as you realize that you're all mighty Kage is fucked up worse than his daughter who can't feel shit. A thousand time worse."

Her face morphed back into distant grief as she picked up the tray and returned to the living room. She sat a cup in front of everyone seated around the center table and began asking who wanted which type of tea.

"So Mr. Yagami where do we begin with the plans. It doesn't matter to me." Winter said as she took a small sip from her cup, staring down the funeral planner as he began to unpack all of the items he would be using.

* * *

Everyone jumped out of the carriage as it came to a stop at their camp site. It had been three hours worth of traveling that had put them all on a little bit of an edge. The first thing they all did was stretch and take a moment to work out all the little ticks and cramps that had worked their way through their bodies while they had been stuck in the carriage.

"Set up camp. Sleep lightly when you do go to sleep. As soon as we set up the fire then gather around it and I'll tell you all your aliases."

The group instantly went to work setting everything up and moving things around to make space. Deidara stared at them for a few moments, shocked at how well they worked together even when it didn't completely count. He was poked into action by Sasori.

"Don't stand around idle brat. The more you help the faster this goes. Now go set up our tent while I start the fire and set up scouting puppets."

Deidara nodded and went to work on the tent. "I'm just kind of shocked. I mean you guys are always fighting so much I didn't think you did anything well outside of battle un."

Itachi rolled his eyes at Deidara as he set up Kisame's and his tent. "You still don't see yourself as one of us Deidara. You're going to have to get over that eventually. And as far as us working together goes. We do all that training for a reason. Battle training with each other helps to work out all those small issues when it comes to day to day life. Why fight with each other at the moment when you can take it out in training later? Every noticed that we fight with each other but partner sets rarely go at it? Plus we've done missions like this before. Not a lot but some. It's just a set pattern that we've gotten down."

Deidara nodded. "That would explain why Pein-sama had Sasori and I train so hard for the last six months yeah. I've kind of wanted to ask him about it but I've also been totally freaked about asking. Pein can be a little scary un."

"Yea I know I can. That's why I'm the leader." Deidara felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge when he heard Pein's voice come from directly behind him. "Now everyone circle up."

They all made their way to the circle and sat themselves down. "Ok from the time I give you your names on you become that person. You think in character. You act in character. And you battle in character. You do not break your role for anything. We're all under _Henge Jutsu_ so make sure that you don't deplete your chakra. If one of you losses the jutsu then we're all exposed. Understand? Sasori has a store of solider pills if you need a temporary boost of chakra; he's also going to be playing the role of medic for us."

They all nodded. None of this needed to be said. It made things seem real. Up until now they had all been taking this lightly, but now that they were getting down to business; they were each becoming the S-class missing-nin that they were supposed to be.

"Alright. Itachi, Sasori, and I will be Sukiyoi Kimura, Yinwei Sasaki, and Itsuki Kobayashi. Deidara and Konan will be Meiyun Sasaki and Maidao Kobayashi. Hidan, Tobi, Kisame, and Kakuzu will be Jiro Sato, Hachiuma Takahashi, Hosyu Yamamoto, and Hirosmasa Mochizuki. Itachi you're the diplomat in charge of the markets and trade for all Kumo. It won't be too hard to fake with the documents that they left behind. Sasori you're the head of ninja. In a sense you'll just have to talk about the Kumo academy and ANBU. Zetsu can go back to the base and get you information on that. And I'm the diplomat over foreign affairs. So that means it's my job to know other countries business. Pretty simple." The group let out a small chuckle.

"Hidan, Kakuzu, and Kisame you guys will be our guards so pretty much any time we're out of our residence you will have to be glued to us to keep up appearances. But when we're at home you'll be able to move about freely. Take advantage of that and probe the other guards to get information as well as searching for information by other means.

"Tobi, Konan, and Deidara. You guys are women and a servant. It doesn't' need to be said that people get very stupid when they're around pretty people or servants who they don't think care enough to spill their secrets. Even ninja let all kinds of things slip. Take advantage of your positions and push people but do it carefully. Make sure it seems like an afterthought to make people think you're interested when you ask them about some secret plan. Pretty much flirt and act drunk. But don't overdo it. You don't want them to think you're the cheating mistress or the whoring wife. No one trusts those kinds of women. Tobi just try not to look too interested and keep your ears open but do as you're told. Don't linger to hear the end of a sentence if someone asks you to get them another drink. It's always better to get a piece of information and gather the rest latter."

Everyone nodded their heads to signal that they understood what they needed to do to carry out this mission successfully.

Kakuzu stared at Pein and silently asked if it was ok to ask questions now. Pein gave a small nod that was all the indication he needed. "So who are we actually going after in Iwa?"

Konan shifted and looked at Pein. "Now?" She asked even as she was stretching backwards and taking the files on Winter out of her bag. Pein nodded and she passed one to each member in turn and waited for them to open them before beginning to explain. "This is Winter. She's the Tushikage's daughter and Deidara's little sister. She's dangerous and Pein-sama believes that she is the one responsible for the attack on Iwa a few days ago. He wants her safely back at the base for several reasons the only of which that you get to know is that he doesn't want Iwa to be able to use her as a weapon."

Kisame smiled and reached over to Itachi's copy of the file, pointing out something to him. "She's got you beat dude. She made ANBU at the age of twelve. That's just six months ago."

Itachi shook his head and knocked away Kisame's hand so he could keep reading. "Do I look like I care? There are new geniuses popping up every day. And as it stands they probably went easy on her because she was the Kage's daughter."

Deidara shook his head, happy that his fringe hid his face so that no one could see the pure hatred that was washing across him and spilling out of every pore. This was not what he wanted at all. This was not supposed to happen! "He would never allow that un."

Sasori turned to him with a blank expression. "What?"

"The Tushikage would never allow that. If anything he was there at the physical test and drove them to push her right to the edge of the cliff and then over. Just to prove how excellent his family was. He's the type of man who cares too much about his appearance. Everything that's his is perfect so that it reflects the image that he is perfect."

They all held themselves for a second. No one was sure what to say exactly. "You know blondie that just makes him easier to fuck over. I suppose that I can understand your rage. If it makes you feel better if I get to him first I'll sacrifice him to Jashin in your name."

Deidara's head snapped up and looked over to Hidan. "Guys Hidan's being decent to me and just said a sentence without cussing yeah."

Sasori sighed in frustration as if Deidara was making his life a thousand times harder. "Yes well that would be the seriousness seeping in. He tends to get like this on missions. Once again it's just something you'll have to get used to."

"We have to get along during this fucking mission Blondie. So temporary olive branch. We don't fight until we're done. Got it?" Deidara nodded still a little awe struck at how this bad ass organization could be when no outside eyes were observing.

"You guys are all so different when we're alone. It's interesting un." He said as an afterthought. "So am I the only one with a living sibling? Wait no sorry I mean is it just me and Itachi?"

"Yep. The rest of us either killed off our families the right way or were only children who had their parents taken from them. Or ran away from our villages and our parents died a ninja death or of natural causes at a later date." Kakuzu filled in. Deidara just nodded again, not really caring to pry too far.

"So Deidara-senpai what do you remember about your sister?" Tobi asked from his place directly across the fire.

"Why yeah?"

"It just seems like we should know more about our target and who better to ask then her brother? I mean the file says that she's cold and unemotional but it kind of doesn't tell us what she's going to be like in battle or how she'll react when we capture her. And it kind of bugs Tobi that she's described as so heartless. It's just kind of wrong. So please tell Tobi what she was like before."

Deidara sighed and looked around the circle. "I suppose all of you want to hear this?" They all gave a positive shake of their heads. "Ok well she doesn't look to different from the last time I saw her. Minus the piercings, she always swore that she would never have more than two when she was little but I guess that changed. She was always quiet and withdrawn but she was still a happy kid when I was there. She didn't have her bloodline limit and she was destructive but in an artistic way like me. She loved to make all kinds of abstract art and painting and drawing were always big on her…"

Deidara continued to tell the Akatsuki about everything he remembered about his little sister. Trying to correct the image that the file they each held put in their heads. He hoped beyond all things that the file was a brief overview of her, her appearance to anyone who didn't know her. But it was too detailed and the more he spoke about her the more he saw just how hard the last couple years without him had been.

Around sunrise Hitomi, Aoi, and their team finally reached the encampment of the Kumo ambassadors. Aoi stopped a few trees away from their tents. He scouted out the area for a second, wandering why things seemed so calm.

"Where are the guards?"

"Right here. So why don't you tell us what you're doing spying on our camp Iwa-nin." Aoi's eyes snapped to his left where Hitomi was being pinned down with a kunai to his neck.

He raised his arms in peace. "We're just here to escort you back to Iwa. The Tushikage didn't want anything to happen to any of the ambassadors and deployed ANBU to escort you back."

Kakuzu glanced up to Hidan and nodded at him. Hidan slid the kunai a little bit away from Hitomi's neck. "Prove it or we have to kill you."

Aoi didn't miss the interaction but decided against commenting on it. "Ok if one of you will come over here and go through my left pocket you'll find a scroll from the Tushikage himself."

Kakuzu jumped from the forest floor and landed on the same branch as Aoi. Being careful to keep his hands in sight while going through the pocket he was slightly relived when he felt the scroll without there being a trap. Taking it out he tossed it to Tobi who was pacing around the fire with a kunai drawn.

"Set away from the fire and open that."

Tobi nodded and did as he was instructed. When nothing immediately happened he read the scroll and nodded to himself. "It's authentic. Shall I wake up Kobayashi-sama?"

Hidan backed off and Kakuzu nodded. "Yes and the other head guard." He turned back to Aoi and sheepishly rubbed his head trying to look like this had all been an act of over protectiveness. "Sorry but we couldn't take any chances. And we had expected to meet you when we were entering Iwa not Kusa."

Aoi brushed it off with a wave of his hand. "It's understandable. But might I ask why you went the long way instead of going right through Takigakure and Otogakure?" It was a test. One that wasn't meant for Kakuzu, he was saved from answering when Pein came out of his tent.

"Because we didn't want to go through Otogakure. What with all the mess that they've been stirring up lately. We didn't want to give even the hint that we had any ties with them. It just seemed better to go all the way around then to head south to go around Otogakure and then back north to go through Takigkure. Now please come down here so that we can talk properly. I suppose you'll be traveling with us for the next couple days."

Aoi nodded and signaled for his group to descend. Hidan and Kakuzu went right behind them, walking around and waking up the other members of their group. It was an act though. They had all woken up at the beginning of this encounter, it just would have looked to suspicious if they had all stepped outside at the same time.

Deidara nodded to Sasori when Kakuzu popped up in their tent and stood up, tying a robe around himself. Sasori went directly outside, throwing on a shirt as he went. Counting to two hundred and thirty from the time he heard Sasori greet the new members of the group he idly moved around to make it seem like he was getting ready.

With a fake yawn and a small stretch he exited his tent. He was inches from the fire when a familiar voice made him stop dead in his tracks.

"Yes the Tushikage has charged us with getting you safely to Iwa and then back to your village. He thought that whoever attacked the city a couple of days ago might go after some of you." Deidara's blood ran cold when he saw a hare mask on just the other side of the fire. _Hitomi…Shit, not good not good! I need to let Pein know about this._

Trying to look not suspicious in the least he walked over to Konan and hugged her. "Sorry about falling asleep in the wrong tent last night Maidao. I was just so tired I didn't really notice that I had crawled into bed with the wrong person."

Konan's expression was one of girlish happiness that betrayed none of her confusion. "It's perfectly ok Meiyun. I'm sure that Itsuki didn't mind me spending the night with him. We were all out of it when we set up camp last night." Konan went and slid down next to Sasori, throwing Deidara a glance that said _what the hell are you doing?_ as he slid his arms around Pein.

Deidara ignored them all and just snuggled up to Pein. "Sorry my love but can we go talk for a second? I just wanted to ask you a few things that were bugging me for a second."

Pein nodded his head and stood up, gently helping Deidara to his feet. Turing back to their new guards he gave a small smile. "Excuse us this is probably very important."

They took off into the woods before anyone could actually acknowledge their request to be excused. Konan covered their backs though and started another conversation.

Pein turned towards Deidara when they were safely a few feet away. "What was that?"

"Sorry leader-sama I didn't mean to wreck your plans but it's very important. I know one of the ANBU. His names Hitomi Miyake and it's more than a little likely that someone else in that group is named Aoi Shiroyama. We're going to need to be more than a little carful. They umm…they're really good at their jobs. That the best way to put it."

Pein raise his eyebrow and stepped closer to Deidara. "Is there anything else I should know Meiyun?" Deidara shook his head. "Fine. Don't do anything stupid and keep your eyes on them. Closely. I'll find a way to let everyone know that your little rearrangement is going to stick. Now let's go back before we lose control of things." Pein looped his arm around Deidara and walked back to the fire. Things were serous last night but that was nothing compared to this morning.

**

* * *

-x-

* * *

**

**Author's Note:** Sorry but I needed this chapter to be a certain length without moving forward to fast. So I kind of made it choppy on accident but that's stops soon. I'll continue to refer to everyone as their true genders just to cut down on confusion unless someone else is talking about them. Let me know if I mess up at any point. Do you guys want a list of names so you can keep everything straight? And I couldn't resist. I have a very unhealthy obsession with Gazette.


	4. Chapter 004: Arriving Complications

Deidara swept his eyes over the camp as Pein guided him back to the fire to sit by Konan. He took a deep breath and then allowed a small smile to form on his face, reaching up he fluffed his hair and tugged his robe tighter, not faking the shiver that rolled through him. Konan wrapped her arms around him. "Is everything alright? Are you feeling ok?"

Deidara returned the embrace, clinging to her body heat. "Yes I'm definitely feeling better than I was these past couple days. But do you think it could be any colder this morning?" They both shivered this time. Sasori walked away from the fire only to return with a blanket which he threw over both of their shoulders, they huddled tighter and pulled the blanket snuggly around each other. A quick thank you was muttered as they locked in on the conversation going on around them.

"Is something going on with your wife?" Aoi questioned.

"No she was just a little sick during the journey. She's been feeling better today and I'm sure she's in the recovery state. You don't need to be concerned." Pein was quick to answer.

"Ok. If she should get worse we have medical-nin with us."

Pein gave a nod and then turned to face Itachi. "Do I need to make introductions or have you already taken care of that?"

"He took care of it already. And they've been briefed on us to an extent." Kisame quickly filled in from his position where he was helping Tobi to break down the tents. "As soon as we get everything packed back up we're ready to go."

Pein gave another positive shake of his head. "It would seem you guys have done all my work for me. What exactly did I leave Kumo for?" A chuckle rose from the group. Deidara pulled Konan to her feet and pushed her to a tent. "Excuse is for a moment we're just going to change while there's still a space for us to do so unm." He bit his lip and hopped that they hadn't caught his almost slip up.

Konan unzipped the tent and slid in behind him. She whispered as her hands went to work undressing both of them. "What's going on?" Deidara shrugged the robe off him shoulders forgetting all his talk of modesty.

"Quick version I know the ANBU. Well some of them at least, I'm not sure about the others but I know two for sure. They were former best friends of mine. I needed to tell Pein this but I didn't think about my words before I said them. I didn't mean to mess up our parings. But Pein said that he was going to keep it the way I messed it up."

Konan let out a small giggle and cupped her hands to Deidara's ear. "Someone's listening just outside the tent." She said lowly. "You know ninja all have amazing bodies but ANBU are just such teasers! You get to see that sexy body, hear that silky voice, but not get to see their face! How fair is that?" She said in a much louder whisper.

Deidara pulled on a shirt and answered while nodding his head. "I know they are such tempters. God if the seven deadly sins were embodied by ninja villages then ANBU would be all over lust." Konan looked at Deidara with an expression that clearly said where the hell did that come from? He shrugged and stood to buckle his skirt.

They finished dressing in silence, listening to the sounds of conversation from outside. Konan brushed a light coating of makeup on both of them before they stepped out of the tent. In the time it had taken them to change everyone had packed up the rest of camp and changed themselves. The diplomats stepped into the carriage after their wives and firmly shut the door behind them. Their guards jumped on top to drive the carriage as the leaders of the ANBU team stepped off to a quiet area.

"What kind of vibe are you getting?"

"Nothing on either side. They don't seem to good or to bad to me. If anything the only thing that spooks me is the blonde girl. She looks a bit like Deidara but no possible way right?"

"Hehe yea right could you picture him faking that? No way. So we go back to Iwa?"

"We head back to Iwa."

* * *

The trip back to the Land hidden in Rock took a grand total of three days but nothing happened to detain the convoy. Aoi breathed a sigh of relief as he set sight on the giant wall that surrounded the city. It was good to be home and they had made good time, it was still several hours before sunset. "We should be in the city in lesson than five minutes!"

He couldn't hear the little puffs of breath that escaped from his team members at his announcement but he could tell that they were just as relived as he was. They all put on a little extra burst of speed and in less than two minutes they were standing right outside the wall. Hitomi stepped forward and called up the wall.

"Open the gate we have the diplomats from Kumo!" He took the scroll that Kisame was shaking at him and tossed it up right after he finished talking. A hand reached out and plucked it from the air and a few seconds passed because the gate was thrown open.

"Welcome!" said a voice as a young girl stepped out to greet them. "I'm here to be your guide, if you would please come the rest of the way in."

The carriage passed through the gate and the doors calmly shut behind them. Hidan jumped down and opened the carriage door. Pein, Itachi, Tobi, and Sasori stepped down followed by Deidara and Konan. "Hello." Pein said with a smile.

"Hello. Would you happen to be Kobayashi-sama?"Pein gave her a nod. "Right so then you would be Sasaki-sama and Kimura-sama?" She said gesturing to Sasori and Itachi in turn. "And the ladies behind you would be your wives?" Again nods were given. "Excellent I'm Sakura and I'm here to give you a tour of the city. If you would like to wait and go to your apartments first though I can show you there as well."

"Yes I think it would be best to take a trip to the apartments first but we could walk there. I doubt anyone will object to stretching their legs." Itachi was quick with his reply.

"That sounds perfect. I'm sure that one of your escorts wouldn't mind riding with your driver so that he doesn't have to keep pace with us the whole way there." Hitomi tapped one of his team members and gestured that he should climb onto the carriage.

Kisame tossed a nod at Pein and then whipped the horses into action. "Do you need anything else from us Sakura?"

"No. Your team should go rest but if you get the chance you should go see Winter-hime. She's been wandering around the city a bit restless." At the sound of her name Deidara covered his mouth to disguise the breath he had to take in. Everyone turned towards him.

"Is something wrong Lady Meiyun?" Deidara shook his head and gave a cough.

"A friend of mine had just mentioned that the Kage's daughter was named Winter but I doubt you could be talking about her. I mean you would not let the Kage's daughter wander around after what happened."

Sakura's smile slipped for the first time but she was quick to fix that. "Ah yes well after the incident a few days ago we tightened security greatly. Miss Winter is perfectly ok walking around the city. Trust me when I say it's more than safe enough to wander the streets."

Pein slipped his arm into Deidara's as he reached to rub his palm where the mouth should be. "Dear you can't be everyone's mother, I'm sure they did exactly the same thing that Kumo would do. She could probably get in more trouble in her room than on the streets right now."

"Of course. It just seemed a little odd to me. Could we start the tour?" Sakura seemed to lose the tense aura that had entered her smile as she spun around and began to guide them through the city. Deidara put his thumb into the mouth on his right hand, grabbing the clay that was in there and rolling it around for a second before removing his fingers and resealing the mouth. Pein's hand tightened against his own, a silent warning that he needed to break that habit.

Deidara put the clay into his pocket and tucked his arm neatly into his sleeves, pressing them against his stomach as they moved onward. _I can't wait till we're alone. My mouths really need to breath. Well lick. Well gah they just need to be free to do what they do when they're uncovered. I wonder if we'll run into Winter, I really wonder if she's as shocking in the flesh.

* * *

_

As they moved onward Hitomi waved his team off and they all ran to their various homes and duties. Aoi turned to him and slipped off his mask, his eyes not focusing on what was right in front of him. "Did you see that?"

Hitomi also took off his mask and thought for a moment before deciding to deny the obvious. "See what?"

"Exactly. Shall we go hunt down our little snowflake?" Aoi whispered as they jumped from the busy main street onto a building top. His eyes returned to the blonde among the diplomats.

"I think we shall. Do we talk to her about what isn't happening and what we didn't see?" Despite how real what they were talking about was Hitomi couldn't help but let a little laugh slip into his voice. He pointed out Winter walking down a market street several blocks away. Her blue hair was completely unmistakable.

"I don't know that we should." Came the reply with all playfulness sapped from his voice. "We don't want to make things more complex than they need be. Let's just go screw with her for now. Worse come to worse she'll be a little mad that in the end we knew more than she did. And you know we don't know that we actually know anything. And that is the end of this topic because I really want a hug." He jumped away before Hitomi had the chance to make their conversation any more complicated.

Grim smiles lit their faces as they hunted down their ward. They were both ninjas who had great loyalties to their villages but above all else they were loyal to their promises. When the time came both of them knew which side they would be standing on, both held a possibility of death so all they had to decide was which one was more likely to make them happy.

* * *

Deidara let the breath he had been holding slowly slip out, squeezing Pein's arm to signal that they were no longer being watched. Pein gave the slightest nod of his head and then reached forward to tap Sakura on the shoulder.

"I know that you probably aren't the right person to ask but maybe you would know. Is there anything touristy around Iwa? My wife has been to the city before and I don't know that she would want to experience the tour again." Pein had to stop himself from grimacing at the look of joy that seemed to make the girls face light up even further_. Ok that is definitely fake._

"Of course we can always find something for her to do. Not a problem at all. But here now we've arrived at your residence. Step in please; there is a man in the elevator who will escort you to your floor. Simply show him your badge. And when you're ready to come back out just come back down to the ground floor and ask the lady at the desk to ring me. I'll be back within five minutes of your call."She gave a bow and backed out of the hotel.

Konan released herself from Sasori's arm and strode over to Deidara, grabbing his hand and pulling him along faster than the rest. Deidara gave her a curious look but Konan shook it off. The variables of this mission were changing all too quickly and she didn't like it one bit.

Pulling out her id she flashed it at the guard in the elevator and he acknowledged it by reaching over and pushing the button for their floor, the light went on behind the 9th button.

"Your apartments are the whole ninth floor, there are seven bedrooms and a bathroom for each as well as a main bathroom near the living room. Its layout is similar to that of a loft. If you should need anything press zero on the phone and it will call down to the main desk. Someone is always manning the desk. We don't post guards on the floor to respect your privacy but if you ask then guards can be assigned. There is a kitchen in the loft but there is also a main kitchen should you choose not to make your own meals. Please alert the main desk and they will alert the kitchen to your wishes. Your bags should have already been taken up."

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open revealing what the guard had spent the ride up describing. Everyone gave a little sigh as they looked over the lush mini palace they would be staying in. It would be hard to focus on the task at hand when they had this to come back to each evening.

Sasori and Kakuzu made their way around the rooms checking for listening devices, no chances could be taken. They walked back into the main living room less than fifteen minutes later and checked with each other. "I found one in each of the bedrooms and bathrooms." Sasori reported in a hush.

"The living room and kitchen are covered with them. But no visual devices." They each held out their hands to show the small devices contained within them. Itachi swept them out of their hands and incinerated them with a quick fire jutsu.

"No doubt they'll place more when the maids clean, we'll just have to keep destroying them. Itachi is going to place heavy genjutsu over our bags so separate the dangerous things from the normal and hide them. Make sure your headbands are hidden the best. Go freshen yourselves up for now."

Konan grabbed Deidara again as the others went their separate ways. "Keep Sakura as far from Pein as possible. I don't like her."

Deidara nodded his eyes wide because Konan's hand was digging deep into his skin. "Of course I'll do my best but she hardly seems like much of a threat. I don't think that she's a ninja."

Konan's eyes widened. "You cannot seriously be that naïve! There are many more threats that just that of other ninja coming after Pein. Think damn it!"

"…I think Leader-sama is gay so we don't have to worry about it that much, yeah." Deidara said musing aloud.

Konan twitched and gripped hard enough to break his arm in half if she really tried. "Be serious. If Pein were to slip into her bed things would go downhill faster than you and Hidan could sabotage things. You have to watch her. I want to trust him I really do, but men can be dangerous. So do as I say."

"Of course Konan-sama un." He gave her a slight smile and tried to make her calm down a bit. Her hand left his arm a second later.

"I'm sorry I've just seen this before, hell I've done this before. More times than you can imagine. It's an old trick but very useful." She walked off before Deidara could say a word to try and comfort her.

He sighed and walked up the stairs, searching for Sasori. "Danna?" He asked when he finally found him sitting on a bed, riffling through his bag. "Is Leader-sama gay?"

A hand snaked over and slapped him across the back of the head before he could even blink. Sasori stared at him like he had lost his mind. "We are literally in the heart of enemy territory and you think now is the time to make jokes?"

"I wasn't making a joke un! Konan is worried that that host lady is going to try to sleep with Pein-sama and I don't think that's possible at all because he seems gay. And you've been at the organization for awhile so you should know!" Deidara stared Sasori in the eyes, trying to match the intensity of his glare.

"Oh god you're actually serious? Why don't you go ask him then? Or better yet you'll find out later. What with you to having to sleep in the same bed and all. If he really is gay he won't be able to resist a little treat like you." Sasori had dared to smirk as he tormented his young partner.

"He wouldn't do that!" Deidara said but Sasori was no longer paying him attention, he had gone back to his bag. Itachi had been walking past with a towel wrapped around his waist and popped his head in at the sound of Deidara's freak out. He stared at the blonde for a moment before raising his hand to rub his eyes.

"Shouldn't you be in yours and Pein's room going through your bag? I need to place the genjutsu before we leave."

Deidara turned to look at him with worried eyes. "Itachi is Pein gay? Sasori won't tell me but now he's hinted that I might be raped, yeah."

"Just ask him. I doubt he would though. All things considered he needs you in fighting shape."

At that moment they all jumped almost a foot into the air. "Actually I'm bi and it really doesn't matter because I have no interest in you at the moment Deidara. Granted that could change but for now I choose to direct my attention to someone else. And I don't hookup so when one of you sees Konan tell her to stop worrying about me and that girl. Are there any other questions I need to answer about my sexual preferences?" Pein had broken his Genjutsu and had there not been the hint of mirth in his voice his ringed eyes would have pinned them all to the spot.

Deidara took a deep breath and dispersed the genjutsu over his hands, opening the mouths and letting his tongues roll out. "Well you aren't a pedophile right?"

Pein's eye started to rapidly twitch. "You aren't even a minor brat." Sasori was quick to snap as he lifted a set of kunai from his traveling bag.

"Your sister will be perfectly safe from me on that account Deidara. I rarely deal with virgins." With a roll of his eyes Pein briskly walked from the room.

"Oh yay I had wondered about that. But he didn't exactly say no did he?"

Itachi looked at him with a questioning expression. "Why would you want to know that about your sibling? I certainly don't want to know what my younger brother has slept with."

"Well Saskue is a boy! Winter is a girl it's entirely different. You would worry about what your sibling was up to if he was a she." Deidara said as he stood up and strode past Itachi and into his room.

Itachi stared at him as if he had lost his mind, turning back to Sasori he pointed after him and mouthed the word overbearing. Sasori just shook his head and waved him off.

The rest of the time in their apartments was spent changing and setting up defenses. Each member placed some jutsu that would guard the apartment and before long they were all back in the elevator and on their way back to the ground floor. Kisame had rejoined them shortly before they left, having been poking around the hotel its self.

The doors of the elevator slid open with a ding after the light on the panel showing their choice of floors finally stopped moving. They stepped out and went to take seats in the reception area as Itachi and Hidan walked over to the main desk.

"Hello we were told that when we were ready to leave we should come and check in with the main desk. Is that right?" Hidan asked having reached the spot before Itachi.

The girl behind the computer looked up at him and nodded. "Yes that's right. Would you like me to summon Ms. Sakura back?"

"No. Actually the girls wanted to visit a hot spring or bath house and we did still want a tour but perhaps with a different guide. She was just a little too hyper for our liking." Itachi tried to keep his words light.

"That's fine sir. Do you require extra guards?" Her hands were already clicking away, typing the orders out on the screen.

Hidan raised a questioning eyebrow at Itachi. On the one hand it would be perfectly normal to take extra guards since they were splitting up but it would also make things a bit harder. Guards would notice small things that they shouldn't.

"Yes we'll take extra guards. Maybe two for us and three for the ladies and their companion."

"Whatever makes you happiest is fine with us. Your escorts will be here in a little over five minutes."

Hidan tossed a thank you over his shoulder as they returned to the group. "Hachiuma," Hidan said addressing Tobi. "You and Hirosmasa are going to be going with the ladies. Three extra guards will be coming with you." Kakuzu shifted in his seat, it was the only indication that he had heard his partner.

"Dear perhaps you should go shopping after you two leave the bath, pick up a couple of things." Sasori said to Konan as she fixed her kimono sleeves. She nodded and smiled a little smile.

The market was near the remains of the Kage tower. It was doubtful that their tour would take them close enough to it for any of them to be able to gather the data they needed on the explosion but Konan and Deidara would be free to go where they pleased. And Deidara would know what to look for. He shifted in his seat as he remembered that he needed to look over the files that had been given to him on explosion experts.

They sat in relative silence for a minute, evaluating what they still had to do before they had to return to their residence before sunset. Kakuzu turned to Pein and asked a question that had been burning a hole in his mind for a couple hours.

"When's the funeral?"

Pein's attention was held by something else as he gave his answer. "In three days. I doubt we're going to do anything then. It would be better to wait to act. Itachi?"

When Itachi looked up and over to him he waved his attention to the main desk, more importantly who was standing at the main desk. Itachi hissed and looked in any other direction but at the desk.

"I'll ask you what I asked Deidara, is this going to be a problem." Itachi's reply was quick because guards were walking towards them, ready to take them out

"No I'll just steer as far clear of him as possible. I really have no intention of crossing paths with my little brother at this point in time."

Pein stared at Itachi hard as they all stood up and broke off into their groups. He was beginning to tire of all theses complications. It was as if some force was working against him and he would be damned before it won.

The guards quickly joined the group that they would be taking. "We'll meet back up at sunset for dinner."

* * *

**-x-**

* * *

**Author's Note:** Wow am I ever sorry about letting this go for so long without an update. I just kinda lost the path, if that makes sense. I know where I want this story to go and I want to be there without having to do the hard part. But I know it doesn't work like that. Gah! Bare with me. The next update shouldn't take this long. And sorry about the errors, I still don't have a beta.


	5. Chapter 005: A Trip Through Town

_Who is who?:_

**Deidara** is **Meiyun Kobayashi**. Pein is **Itsuki Kobayashi.**

**Konan** is **Maidao Sasaki.** Sasori is **Yinwei Sasaki.**

**Itachi** is **Sukiyoi Kimura.**

**Hidan** is **Jiro Sato.**

**Tobi** is **Hachiuma Takahashi.**

**Kisame** is **Hosyu Yamamoto.**

**Kakuzu** is **Hirosmasa Mochizuki.**

**Zetsu** doesn't have or require a name at the moment.

_Because even I was starting to get it confused from chapter to chapter._

Deidara and Konan stepped out of the hotel with Tobi and Kakuzu at their side and the guards walking slightly behind them. They stood out in the sun for a moment before Deidara turned back to the guards. "Where to?"

One of the females stepped forward. "I think we're supposed to be asking you that. But our orders had mentioned that you want to go to a hot spring. Is that right?" She waited for one of them to give her a positive smile before continuing. "Have you heard of a particular one that you would like to visit?"

Konan shook her head. "No anyone that has a good reputation would be fine. Although, we wanted to do a bit of shopping afterwards. So our conditions would be that is should be close to the market but not shady."

The girl tapped her cheek as she thought for a second and then turned east. "I think the best place would be Mayonaka. It's about fifteen minutes walk from the market but it's the closest you can get without having to worry about anything happening. We'll actually pass through one of the smaller shopping districts on the way."

"That will be great. Lead the way. Oh and what's your name?" Tobi shifted the bags he was carrying as they set off. Kakuzu walked in front of them, while two guards stayed behind them, and the girl who had spoken walked at their side.

The girl fiddled with her fishnet at the attention that Konan was showing her, she probably didn't expect to be talked to. "Chika ma'am."

"Ok. Feel free to call me Maidao. No lady, much too formal considering we'll all be naked in a couple minutes." Konan laughed at her little joke and Deidara looked at her like she was mad. "Oh come now. We should be able to joke freely. Stop giving me those looks and loosen up."

Deidara let a small grin split his face. "I suppose she's right. And knowing her she won't stop until she gets a laugh out of us. I'm Meiyun by the way."

The girl relaxed a little. "It's lovely to meet you both."

The walk towards the hot springs was filled with bubbly chat and girly topics but everyone was still on guard despite the light air that flowed around them. Deidara couldn't help but notice that the streets seemed a bit more tamed than when he had last been in Iwa. Children still ran about playing foolish games as their older brothers and sisters bragged about what they had learned at the academy. Parents stood close by, keeping eyes open for the silly mistakes that children make as they talked away the day with friends. But all of it seemed to be haunted by a tense air. Deidara chalked it up to the sadness at the death of the Tushikage's wife. That should explain the black veil that seemed to blanket the village.

When they first caught sight of the Kage's tower his heart sped up a bit. The remains of the tower were so blackened and crumbled that it was hard to believe that those who had been inside had gotten out in one piece. Had it not been for the thought that his sister had been in that tower when it was attacked he would have been smiling. Whoever had done this had done an excellent job of destroying it in just the right way but he couldn't appreciate it. Not yet at least.

Deidara ripped his eyes from the tower and tuned back into the conversation as they neared the bath house. With a sigh of bliss he brought his hands up to his cheeks. "Oh this is going to be so wonderful!" He said with real emotion in his voice. There was a hot spring back that their base but nothing could compare with Iwa hot springs except maybe those in the Village Hidden in the Mist.

Chika looked at Deidara and nodded but then her eyes widened as she glimpsed someone she knew behind him. Throwing her hand into the air to wave she called out to the girl. "Lady Winter hi!"

The girl had been standing with her back to the group at a Dango shop but now she turned to face them, one of the sweet dumplings inches from her mouth. As her blue hair shifted over her shoulder her face took on a very bored look. She sized them up as she walked over to say hi.

"Hello Chizu. How is your day going?" She said, dropping the Dango back into the bag it had come out of.

"Quite well. And yours?"

"So so, my friends got back from their mission today so I was extremely happy about that. And dad finally called off the ANBU bodyguards so that was even better. Who are your companions?"

Konan reached over and gave Deidara a quick pinch to snap him out of his daze. He wanted to reach out and draw her to him but knew better than to do that. So he settled for talking to her.

Chika gestured to each of them in turn as she introduced them. "This is Lady Meiyun and Lady Maidao. They're the wives of the diplomats from Kumo."

Winter brought her fingertips together to form a steeple and gave a small nod of her head, acknowledging their rank in society. They both returned the gesture.

"It's nice to have the chance to meet you both in a much less formal setting." She said with glance to the side.

"And you Lady Winter. I'm sorry about the loss of your mom." Winter's expression flicked to one of annoyance before it settled on a look of light grief.

"Yes, I'll miss her dearly. But she served the village well as both a mother and a ninja and that's the best anyone can hope for in life. Let's change the subject please."

Deidara reached out a hand to brush through her hair, giggling at each strand as it passed through her fingers. "How did you dye you're hair in such a way? We tried getting Maidao's hair to do this but it just wouldn't work, we settled for making it all blue in the end."

"Ah, it was something that my brother taught me once upon a time. He left me instructions on how to do it before he left." She cleared her throat and changed the topic. "Where are you headed?"

"To this hot spring by the name of Mayonaka. Would you like to join us?" Konan murmured as her eyes drifted across an approaching figure. Chika seemed fooled by the fake grief but she wasn't, and from the way Deidara was looking neither was he. It would be better to end this conversation as soon as possible.

"Ahh It's a lovely place but I'm going to have to say no. I swore to spend the day with my friends. But I hope you enjoy yourselves." As she finished her statement the figure swung her up onto his shoulder with a laugh.

"Sorry to interrupt ladies but I need to steal this little one away." Winter pounded on his back as he turned and ran away from the group. Swearing blood vengeance if he made her drop her dango.

Chika waved at their retreating forms for a second before snapping her attention back to her charges. "Poor girl. She's trying to take her mother's death better than she should have to."

"Yes. But she really is a credit to her mother. Not breaking down like that. I doubt I could handle it the same way." Deidara injected himself back into the conversation; he needed to start focusing and stop being so star struck.

They stepped through the door to the bath house, temporarily forgetting their meeting with the young girl as the steam from the baths met them. Tobi walked over to Konan and tapped her on the shoulder.

"My lady I doubt Hirosmasa or I will be allowed in the hot springs with you." He gestured to the division of sexes. "What would you like me to do?"

Konan reached out to take her bag and handed Deidara his own. "We're going to spend about two hours or so here. You're welcome to take you own dip in the hot springs."

Chika tapped Konan on the shoulder. "Actually we'll be in a private part of the springs. There are small places in the back that they sectioned off purely for ladies of your rank. There is a pool for us and one for the males so they're welcome to come back with us. The male guards that I brought with me will be joining us, as long as you're fine with it that is."

"Oh well that solves the problem then. You can take a dip with us." She turned to Deidara and pushed him up to the main desk, pulling out a wallet from a side pocket.

"How much would two hours be?"

"1,500 yen will cover two hours with massages and food." Konan pulled out a credit card and handed it to the man. He swiped it and returned it was passes for the group.

"Keep the passes with you during your stay in Iwa. You'll get a discount from now on. You're spring is number seven. Chika should know the way."

Konan turned around and passed the passes out to the group, and then she gestured for Chika to lead the way.

* * *

In the marketplace Winter was sighing as she happily shoved dumpling after sweet dumpling into her mouth. Hitomi interrupted her bliss when he snatched the next dumpling from her.

"How many of those have you had?" He asked as the dumpling made a disappearing act into his own mouth.

"Doesn't matter." She picked up another dumpling and jumped onto a rooftop to eat it.

"It does matter if you haven't had anything but junk today." Whispered Aoi as he ate the dumpling before it could drop into her mouth.

"Stop eating my dumplings damn it!" Winter shouted as she curled defensively around the bag of sweets.

"Tell us when the last time you ate something that wasn't coated in sugar was and maybe we will." Hitomi joined them on the roof, pulling the little girl into his lap as the light began to fade and lanterns were lit all over the city.

"…Yesterday." Winter quickly tossed another dumpling into her mouth, knowing that the bag would soon be taken away.

"You've been eating sugar for almost twenty four hours. That is not ok. Not ok at all." Aoi grabbed the bag of dumplings and tossed them into the hands of one of the children playing in the street below them. "Those are your now!" He called out as the kid looked up at him.

"We should go eat some real food." Hitomi said in a mothering tone as he carried Winter bridal style towards a nearby restaurant. Aoi was a couple of steps behind them.

"Hey Winter you remember those girls you were talking to in the village an hour or so ago?" Aoi asked in a semi-distant voice.

Winter shuffled in Hitomi's arms so that she could peak over his shoulder. "Yea, they were the wives of the Kumo Ambassadors. The blonde was interesting, she kept staring at me like she wanted to cry and hug me. I'm getting a little annoyed with all these women hugging me and tell me that they're so sorry."

Aoi sped up to keep pace with him so that she could lower her voice. "Right. I want you to stay away from them."

She rolled her eyes. "If I could avoid all these women don't you think I would?"

Aoi shook his head. "That's not what I meant at all. I want you to specifically go out of your way to avoid the Kumo ambassadors, all of them not just the women."

"Why?"

"It doesn't matter why, it's just important that you avoid them."

"But-."

Hitomi stopped and set Winter on the ground, placing his hands firmly on her shoulders and staring her right in the eye. "This is one of those times when we need you to just take our word on something. Stay away from the Kumo ambassadors because we think they're trouble. The kind of trouble that we've been waiting for. Do you know what I mean?"

Winter broke his gaze and looked down. "You mean the kind of trouble that might bring him back? That blond wasn't him was it?"

Hitomi sighed and pulled her along as he ran through the city looking for a quiet spot. They were not supposed to be having this conversation. It wasn't supposed to come up until he and Aoi were a hundred percent sure that they were right. They didn't want to get her hopes up only to have to smash them later but they had already said too much. What else could they do but tell her their theories. He sighed as they slowed down in a shady part of the city, it was dark and quiet.

"We think that the Kumo ambassadors are actually the Akatsuki in disguise. But it's all held together by very weak evidence." Hitomi said as he looked around for other people.

"Yea we saw the blonde fiddle with her hands the way he used to and that together with her hair made us a little suspicious." Aoi whispered as he leaned against the wall.

"And Aoi mentioned that she seemed hyper focused on you earlier. It's really really weak evidence but still, it's a chance that it's him."

"And you want me to stay away from them because?"

"Because they are S-class missing nin. Ruthless KILLERS! We need to be a hundred percent sure that we're right before we go and blow this. No one knows that he was coming back for you and I won't have it coming out because we got carless. If it is them then we need to be careful because they're dangerous. If it isn't them then we can't go letting out information that we've sworn to keep secret."

"I told him not to come back for me. And your job was to weed out spies! You've let dangerous people into the village!"

Winter shivered at the hiss she heard when Aoi and Hitomi took in sharp breaths. Hitomi took a step away from her. "You wouldn't report them. Report us?"

She rushed forward and wrapped her hands around his waist, her head landing on his chest. "No, never, of course not. But…if they aren't the Akatsuki and are just random spies then we're in trouble. If they destroy the village where will we go? If anything it'll just start another war. And then you'll leave me, but it'll be worse than when he left because you'll die fighting for a Kage we don't even love."

Aoi reached out and rubbed her back. "We won't die love. We swore we'd always protect you and we will keep that promise." Hitomi wrapped his arms around her middle; he had never been good with her on the few occasions that she did cry.

"Take a breath and calm down. We're going to find out and if we're wrong then we'll kill them. Things will not go down like that." He said, his gaze drifting upwards. In the time it had taken them to have their talk the sky had gone from pink to black and was starting to twinkle with stars.

Winter nodded and jerked away from him, darting into the nearby alleyway and puking up all the sugar that she had eaten over the last six hours.

"Told you those sweets would come back to haunt you." Hitomi said with scorn in his voice. He walked over and pulled her hair back. "Done?"

"Yes."

"Let's go back to your apartment. I'll cook and you can sit on the couch and sleep."

"Are you spending the night?"

"Yea probably, but we were going to go check on the diplomats first. Well after dinner of course." Hitomi mumbled to himself, his stomach was growling and he really wanted to hurry back home already.

Aoi picked Winter up. "Try not to puke, I'll make this as fast as possible."

With the threat of losing her guardians gone and her stomach empty Winter was starting to tire. She moved her head in a gesture close enough to a nod and let her eyes fall shut. Her breathing evened out as they made the trip back home.

"I told you we shouldn't have said anything. Now we have to find out if she's the real deal or not. And pray that she is he."

"I know. But I also know I'm right."

"If it isn't him then we're leaving. We waited long enough already."

"Fine. If it isn't him then we will leave the village. I promise."

* * *

Deidara let a breath of pure bliss slip from his throat as he broke the surface of the water and threw his hair over his shoulders. "This is just what I needed. There truly is no spring like that of the one's in Iwa."

He looked around and sighed at the sight of Konan, she looked relaxed but truly was still heavily on guard. Silence fell for a moment before Deidara thought to check the time.

"Ahh," he said as his phone told him that it was seven, an hour after sunset. "Mai if we want to glance around the market we need to leave now. Aren't we supposed to meet the guys?"

Konan didn't respond, her head had fallen down to her chest and it was impossible to tell if she was just deep in thought or asleep. Deidara pushed his way through the water until he reached her, kneeling under the water to look into her eyes.

"Mai?"

Her head snapped up and she looked at Deidara as if she was just seeing him for the first time. "Yes dear what is it?"

"We need to go now. If we want to poke around the market we'll have just enough time before dinner and meeting up with the guys."

Konan nodded and stretched upwards. "Ahh ok. Let's go."

In turn they each stepped from the pool, throwing towels around themselves for second while they fixed their hair and makeup into something they could wear to dinner. As they stepped into the changing room Deidara waved Chika off. He wanted to talk to Konan alone, see what was up with her in the pool.

"Nuuh you didn't join us in the bath so you don't get to see us naked now." Chika blushed a deep red at his comment and began to stutter that he had it all wrong. Deidara sighed and just let the door slid shut. The walls were thin so he resorted to whispering.

"What was wrong in the pool? You were so zoned out."

Konan blushed and looked away, seeming a little embarrassed. "I was concentrating on keeping my form. Water and paper don't mix well."

"I totally forgot about your jutsu. Are you ok?" Deidara folded his kimono and slid it into his bag, pulling out a skirt and a pair of fishnet leggings.

"Yea Itachi taught me a fire jutsu that I used to evaporate the water from me. It didn't soak in to badly. As it stands I still won't be able to use my flying jutsu safely for a little bit."

Deidara nodded and picked up his bag. "Alright. I doubt you'll need it soon anyway. Are you ready?"

"Yea. Do you know what you're looking for?"

"Of course. I'm going to have to get away from the guards though. Let's go."

They left the changing room and rejoined their group, handing their bags to Tobi and Kakuzu. "And now we go shopping!"

Chika couldn't help the smile that brightened her face at the sound of the words. She hadn't had time to go shopping in quite some time and she really wanted to look at some new things.

In the span of ten minutes they were out of the hot spring and on the outskirts of the main market. Deidara slipped into the first interesting shop that he found, it sold a variety of cloth. Konan slowed down behind him, pausing to look at each different fabric as he sped up and wound his way quickly around the shop and back out the door. He looked quickly over his shoulder, happy to see that the guard's attention was being held by the three S-class nin still in the store.

He took off towards the tower, his pace slow enough that he didn't draw attention but fast enough that he would be there and back in less than ten minutes. As he approached the tower his was slightly miffed by the sight of yellow tape that marked off the site_. I can't get to close; I'll have to use my scope._

He stopped several feet away from the tower and pulled out a miniature notepad, taking notes on things like how much of the tower was still intact and where the worst damage was. He also took note of the rubble around and began calculations for determining how strong the bombs were. If the tower hadn't been altered since his last time seeing it then almost half of it had been destroyed in the attack and several of the floors that were still standing would be blackened heaps. Even without exact calculations he could tell two things, the bombs were either extremely strong or there were a lot of them. After seven minutes he had everything he needed so he snapped the notebook closed and headed back towards the clothing store, he could hear Chika freaking out from almost two blocks away. He picked up his speed so that he was running.

"It was my job to guard you guys! I can't believe I let one of you slip through my fingers. Oh my god I'm going to get into so much trouble. This is the second time I've lost someone in a week!" Konan placed her hands on the girls shoulders and turned her around, pointing out Deidara who waved at her.

"Ha-ha sorry I really didn't mean to lose you guys. I just got so caught up and wandered off. There's so much to buy!" He said with a hand thrown over his head, rubbing his hair down.

"Yes but we shouldn't shop now. I mean if we do then we have to take all that stuff to dinner."

"You're right. But can't we buy something small? Tiny enough to fit in a bag? Please!!" He gave her puppy dog eyes and she waved him off.

"Hurry up."

Deidara sprinted back to the shop and picked up a folding fan set. It was a perfect pair of fans made of polished wood with blue trim and a nice case. It was perfect for her. He paid for the fans, having them gift wrapped in black paper and put into a sack, and then jogged back to the group for the second time.

"All done, we can go now." Konan reached for the sack as the guards led them to the restaurant.

"What did you buy?"

"Just a gift for an old friend." He said making sure to keep himself fairly vague. It didn't stop Konan's glare of Kakuzu's glance.

"What friend my Lady?" Kakuzu asked as Konan really tried to get the present away from him, leaping around as he shifted position to keep it out of her reach.

"Someone I just haven't seen in a long time. It was before you started guarding us." He relaxed his hands behind his back as Konan finally gave up. They were standing right outside the restaurant and she knew it was time to stop acting like a child and become a lady.

"Thank you very much for guarding us today." Konan said in a polite voice, bowing to the guards. Deidara repeated the action and it was returned by the guards.

Before they stepped into the restaurant Konan gave Chika a hug and promised to ask for her if they needed guards again. She wished her luck in her future and waved goodbye as they disappeared down the street, turning and looking at Deidara with cold eyes when they were out of sight.

"I'm telling."

Kakuzu looked at her in the manner that a mother would look at a child giving her trouble. "My lady," he said with a hint of sarcasm. "Do you know how childish you sound? If she doesn't want to show you the gift then you should leave it be. In my opinion that is." The last part was thrown on to keep up the air of respect. Konan didn't respond.

Deidara was thankful for the help he was trying to offer but he knew it would be futile, as soon as they were standing in front of the host Kakuzu's eyes widened and Deidara could tell that he was calculating how much it would cost to dine there. He let his arm drop to his side and walked over to where he saw the rest of their party waiting. Leaning down he gave Pein a quick peck on the cheek before taking the seat next to him. He looked up from where he had been reading.

"Hello love how was your day?" A smile slipped onto his face but Deidara knew that it was a mask. He decided to give a quick summery.

"The hot springs were wonderful. You have to go while we're here they have the best service and the springs themselves are to die for. On the way there though we met the Tushikage's daughter! She really does have blue hair and seemed like such a distant child. And on the way here we got to take a quick trip through the market, I got a little lost for a minute but everything's fine. Oh and I found the cutest little gift! How was your day?"

"The tour was quite interesting, we moved from one side of Iwa to the other. The damage from the attack that's still being taken care of is surprisingly less than I thought it would be. I think you got a lot closer to the tower than we did though because we just glanced through the market in about two minutes. Our guards were very good guides, from what I saw Mai seemed to enjoy the company of yours as well." At the mention of the guards Pein's now blue eyes flicked to the left and Deidara subtly followed them to see a pair of men sitting not too far away. He slid closer to Pein.

"That she did. I think she's made a new friend. I-." Before Deidara could do anything else the host came over and announced that their table was ready. Deidara sighed and let his head lean on Pein's shoulder as they walked to the large table.

"Tired?" Was his murmured question as he pulled out a chair.

"A bit. I think I'll call it a night when we finish here." He dropped the present near his feet and let another yawn slip from his mouth.

Menus were handed out and shortly dinner began.

* * *

**-x-**

* * *

**Author's note:** We're getting there. I did better on the time span this time.


	6. Chapter 006: Night Time Walkings

Deidara opened his eyes and listened to the room around him. It was silent except for the steady rise and fall of the sheets caused by Pein's breathing. Turning onto his side he glanced at Pein and decided that the man was in a deep sleep. Slipping out of the bed he pulled a set of clothes from underneath it and threw them on, tossing his nightgown into a corner. Taking a breath he walked over to the door and slowly opened it, making as little sound as possible.

Now he only had the problem of getting down to the ground floor. Making his way to the living room he opened one of the windows and slid out of it, hopping that the guards wouldn't be anywhere below because he didn't have the time to check for them. He made sure that the gift bag wouldn't fall and then let himself drop the nine flights to the street below, using a jutsu at the last minute to make the ground soft enough for landing.

Spinning around he checked to make sure that no one had seen him and then ran off into the night, his blonde hair flapping behind him. He could only hope that in all this time Aoi and Hitomi hadn't moved from their apartment.

Back in the apartment a pair of eyes slid open and looked to the empty bedside beside them. With a sigh he stood up and ran his fingers through his hair, stripping off his sleeping clothes like his current partner had done and changing into street clothes.

_Do I stop him? He could seriously hurt us but I don't think that he would. Deidara why don't you just stay away from her for the time being? Isn't my promise to reunite you two enough for now? _He wondered as he followed his subordinate out of the hotel in the same fashion.

He hit the ground floor and took off running.

Deidara took a breath as he stood outside the door of his best friends' apartment, At least he hoped it was still their apartment, it would be hard to explain why he was there in the middle of the night if some random answered the door. Before he could chicken out he forced his arm to leave the comfort of his hoodie and knock on the door. His breath held it's self as he waited for an answer.

The door slid open after one very long minute and Deidara came face to face with Aoi half dressed in mission gear. His eyes ran over Deidara before he bowed and called for Hitomi to join them.

"My lady what are you doing in this part of town so late? And without security?" He asked with a hint of worry in his voice. This was to perfect for them, she had done half of their work.

"I-. Aoi it's…it's me." Deidara stepped in, having to shove Aoi out of the doorway first, and shut the door behind him. He dropped the present and raised his hand to dispel the jutsu, bushing his hair from his eyes he waited on their reactions.

Hitomi moved over to him and reached out to poke him. "I told you so! I told you it was him." He said as he whirled around to face Aoi. But Aoi wasn't ready to admit defeat yet.

"Show me your hands." He demanded, his eyes locked in a fierce glare.

Deidara held out his hands, palm up and stuck the tongues out of them, a small animated bird dancing around on each. "It's me Aoi. A hundred percent the real Deidara, no tricks, no lies."

Aoi nodded his head. "You finally came back. Your timing is pretty dead on to. We need to talk."

"Agreed but…can I see her first? I mean I did see her earlier in the street but it wasn't long enough and there were other people, so many other people. I guess she probably isn't up at this hour but even getting to see her sleep would be nice."

"Yes, she isn't staying too far away actually. It'd be best if we talked along the way. Can you change your appearance again? It would be hard to explain why the wife of a diplomat is skulking around with us at this late of an hour and obviously you can't be you."

Deidara nodded and brought his hand up to place a new genjutsu. It had hardly been in place for a moment before they front door opened frightening them all. Pein shook his head at Deidara, sighing as he did.

"You said this wouldn't happen."

"Leader-sama," he tried but it was no use because Pein wasn't done speaking.

"And now you've gone and compromised the whole mission by revealing yourself. What else have you told them?" Pein's voice dropped to a barely audible hiss as he asked his question and Deidara had to forcible stop himself from shaking. Hitomi took a step back to be closer to Aoi, reaching for a nearby kunai in a just in case measure. Pein let the action go unnoticed, confidant that he would be able to kill them before they could lay a hand on him.

"Deidara who is this?"

Deidara was torn between fear for what Pein would do if he answered the question and a desire to fill his friends in on everything. The decision was taken out of hands seconds later.

"From the way he speaks to Deidara I'm going to guess that this is the leader of the Akatsuki, no?" Aoi stared Pein directly in the eye as he made his statement, not flinching under his intimidating air.

"Correct. I hope you know you have to die now." Before he could answer Hitomi shoved him out of the way of a kunai, barley dodging the barrage of them that flew his way as well. Deidara snapped out of his terror and threw himself in front of his friends, hopping that Pein wouldn't have too much of a desire to hurt him.

"Wait! Give them a chance! They're loyal to Winter not the Kage which means they're on our side. They want her out of this village as much as you want her in the Akatsuki." Deidara slowly brought his arms back down to his sides; he thought he had gotten through to Pein because he was slowly putting down the Kunai that he had been attaching an exploding note to. For a second he seemed to be fighting with himself before he finally nodded.

"Fine they have their chance, but remember this Deidara: they are your responsibility, nothing goes awry or you will be in the worst imaginable trouble. Am I understood?"

Deidara nodded hastily, turning back around to face Hitomi and Aoi who had yet to leave the floor. Leaning down he offered them both a hand and hoisted them up. "So how about seeing her?"

"Yea, sure we'll still take you. But like I said appearance." Deidara nodded and cast a quick genjutsu to patch the areas he had missed when Pein burst through the door, looking around for a mirror to make sure that he hadn't messed it up. He made a few quick modifications and then turned back around and walked towards the door and Pein, he was wary as he leaned down to pick his gift back up but Pein seemed to be slowly moving on from the rage he had been feeling earlier. His eyes were darting around the room; Deidara couldn't imagine what he was thinking about.

"I assume you're going to be coming so could you-." Aoi was cut off when Pein snapped his wandering gaze back to him and then cast a genjutsu similar to Deidara's.

"Let's go, sunrise is in a couple hours and we have quite a bit to discuss." Hitomi nodded and took off, Deidara and Pein behind him with Aoi coming out last so he could lock the door. They moved through the night silently, jumping and landing like ghosts until they arrived at Winter's apartment. Hitomi landed them on the roof that he had watched her from only a few days before. He tilted his head as he searched her bedroom through the window, she wasn't on the bed where he had left her but mysteriously a chess set he definitely didn't remember leaving had popped up. He glanced at Aoi and signaled that he was going to go inside. Aoi nodded and held Deidara and Pein back. Deidara tried to fight down the irrational panic that he felt rising.

"Where is she?"

Aoi turned towards him and stared for a moment, despite being happy to see his old friend he just couldn't take this as lightly as Hitomi was. His eyes searched Deidara's face for some sign of the strain that these years had taken on him. Some sign that he was still his friend. Some show of the brother that had left his sister in the hands of his two best friends in order to save her. He grimaced because as hard as he looked it just didn't come to him. He knew that he was being stupid, Deidara had left for his little sister and he wouldn't come back to hurt her. But he just couldn't help the protective instincts that were telling him to keep this dangerous force away from the child that he had helped to guard and in a way raise. He shook himself out of his emotions and thoughts, answering.

"When she's alone sometimes she falls off the bed. Or she might be in the bathroom, she didn't eat food earlier but had plenty of junk so she was a little sick. Don't worry Hitomi will find her. She's definitely still alive and in the apartment."

Deidra looked back into the room and cocked an eyebrow. "The bed's so big though, how could she possibly roll out of that?"

"Normally Hitomi and I are there to keep her in place, like bookends. But you know, we had work tonight." He pointed back at the window where Hitomi was exiting her closet and putting a deeply asleep Winter back under her covers. "No explanation as to why she was in there."

But Deidara didn't hear him, he was to focused in on his little sister to hear. He was once again shocked to see that her hair was in fact a deep blue; it matched her darkened apartment quite well. He coughed and shook his head to get rid of the rise of emotion he felt coming on. Those emotions that he had locked away a long time ago.

"She looks so…She's grown so much. How's the fight against dad training her been?"

"He never got to her. We've been her teachers pretty much since you left."

Hitomi jumped back up on Pein's left side and pointed towards the ground. "Anbu will be coming soon to sweep through on their guard runs. We need to go somewhere just a bit more private for the talk we had in mind."

They jumped to the road and sped away from the apartment with only a few glances back, only stopping when they we finally outside of the city. Past the gate Deidra collapsed on the rocks, laying on his back and taking in huge gulps of air. The city was stifling and it wasn't until he was out of it that he recognized just how much it was effecting him. He needed to be away from there again. It was already time for him to go. He wanted to get up and keep running but it just didn't happen.

Whatever his feelings might have been he forced himself to stay. "What do you want to know?"

"Well shouldn't we have been asking you that? I'm sure your curious about more than whether or not your father got his claws into her."

"Yes. But I can ask her those things myself. Though. Well if I am allotted some questions then what happened? Right after I left?" He'd heard rumors of course but he needed to know the truth.

"Things got bad. Quickly. The short version is that your father spun into a fiery rage. He locked your sister in her room and your mom never left his side for weeks. When you left it had almost exactly the effect you wanted, he looked as if he couldn't control his family. After awhile he saw reason, of course that only happened after he had solidified his control again."

"And the long version?" Pein cocked his eyebrow and dispelled the jutsu around his nose so that he could run his fingers along the familiar piercings.

"I don't see why it should matter to you." Aoi snapped.

"I just wondered. Why so paranoid?"

"Our turn. And really my only questions. When are you leaving the city? When are you taking her? What condition are you going to leave the city in? And what does he want her for?"

Pein answered before Deidara could even take a breath. "Just after the funeral. Possibly during. She'll be leaving with us then. I hadn't really thought about that to be honest. We might destroy the whole thing so we don't have to later. But then…well actually. I need to rethink that part of the plan, so to answer your question the state of your city upon our leaving will be just as it is now. Until I work out the next steps to my plan. And what I want her for is my business."

"You'll go nowhere with her until I know what's going to happen to her."

"Hmm well it looks like I'll have to kill you. It's not like I didn't expect that from the start."

"Leaader-sama you can't! I owe them. I OWE them my life and Winter's! If you turn around and kill them it's just like they never did anything for me."

"Deidara we're criminals! Bad people. I don't think you understand that yet. But you need to. Where do you see them fitting in? Are we going to take them back to the base? Or are they going to stay here and face the wrath of your father? They can't flee to another village."

"I was hoping you would let them come live with us actually. I mean we'll need them. I doubt Winter will just jump into our arms when we kidnap her!" He was getting upset now.

"Calm down." Hitomi's voice rang out in the solid statement. "Everyone keep your tempers out of this. This is not just a mission we're talking about it's a life. Someone we all have and interest in. We need to plan this with the air of high-ranking ninjas that we have been trained to be. Now, be calm."

They all let out sighs and looked around for a minute before Pein spoke. "The sun will be up in thirty minutes. I need to talk to Konan about all of this. And then we need to meet again."

"Agreed. Same time tonight?"

"Yes."

The four ninja were on their feet and back inside the wall in a matter of minutes. Once again two separate interties, faking a lack of knowledge of the other's existence.

hr

**-X-**

hr

I've once again lost all idea of where this is going but I'm going to try to update no matter what.


	7. Chapter 007: Suspension of Thought

**Intro Note:** Ok. I've been putting this off because I'm realizing I just in general hate writing filler chapters. And that's what most of this so far has been. But I know it's necessary. So bear with me while I force this out. Also if you see some inconstancies with timing let me know. Because I need to reread other chapters to figure out if I'm keeping to my initial time line or messing both you and I up. Also I didn't notice that my word count was steadily declining per chapter.

* * *

Pein didn't let his eyes stray from Deidara the whole way home. Th9oughts were racing through his head and yet he pushed them away in favor of focusing on him. The boy had gained him a new set of puppets, invaluable puppets that he could definitely play to his advantage and yet he had also put his entire plan in jeopardy. He was a shinobi and knew all too well how much other people could be trusted at times but he was willing to put faith in these Anbu shinobi. Pein couldn't decide if that showed good judgment or just a level of irrationality that may get a member of his team killed later. They touched down on the windowsill and Pein popped it open, letting Deidra slid through first and then entering behind him.

They walked into the living room and a bit of an ambush. All the other team members were up and active. Or by active that is to say they were all up and sitting in the living room drinking various substances depending upon the person, eyes focused on the two forms that had just entered. All motion stopped once they cleared the window threshold. Deidara shifted his weight a little bit, wanting to slip from the room unnoticed but knowing it was absolutely impossible. Pein held his ground, staring back at them. He had absolutely nothing to fear.

"Where did you go?" Konan was the one with the balls to ask the question and it broke the tense air. Running his fingers through his hair he took a seat and put his head in his palms.

There was a bit of a stare off between the two of them in which Pein made it clear that he did not have to report to her. She dropped his gaze before he stopped staring at her and even as he spoke his eyes were still locked on the back of her head."The game has changed slightly. Thanks to Deidara we have two new players."

There was the slightest intake of breath and Deidra slumped against the wall soundlessly, wanting to curl in on himself. He could feel their distrust, their hate for his actions, their eyes evaluating him trying to decide if he really was one of them. It didn't feel good.

"For the better or for the worse? Before the city gets active do we need to tie up any loose ends?" Hidan was quick to reply, instantly going for the murder route. And hey it was the fastest way to get things back to their original state but Pein shook his head. Despite his initial reservations he could spin this in his favor.

"No they're playing for our team. It's not that important you just needed to know about it. Go get changed. Sasori grab Deidara from where he's trying to blend into the wall and get him changed. All of you can relax, he hasn't betrayed us."

The room cleared in a matter of seconds and Pein and Konan were left alone. He doubled over to lay his chest on his legs, arms hanging down by his sides. Konan stroked his back gently, letting them sit in silence for a moment before quietly giving voice to her thoughts.

"How's your head?"

"Pounding like a hammer. I've had to rethink so many variables now. And a surprising amount was said in just the short time we were gone. So much has changed from the original plan."

"Do you want me to talk to Deidara?"

"No leave the boy be. He's already feels bad enough. I don't need any of you adding to it and making him feel like more of an outsider. I can rationalize and understand why he did this. I don't agree with it as his leader but as a caring friend I do understand. In all honesty this might things just a bit smoother in the long run. We'll have to find out."

Her gentle stroking of his back continued. "So what's the most immediate thing that has changed?"

"Well when we return to the base we'll have three house guests instead of one. Provided both of these characters survive the escape. We're going to leave the city intact when we leave. We'll need to destroy it later for sure because this is a Kage who will not just bow down but I think that it will be enough of a blow to kidnap his child. Even if we could take anything he would send after us I don't want him having any more of a reason to come after us. We're also leaving the Kage alive. I…if he fell it would leave a power vacuum with people trying to grab control and since his daughter and son wouldn't be there to step up it would be that much worse. I doubt he's planned for who should take over even with the latest destruction to the city. I need stability for the plan that comes three plans after this."

Konan nodded, letting him talk himself out before asking a simple question. "Who are these new people?"

"You know the Anbu group that escorted us in? The leaders of that group."

Her eyes rolled and she pulled her hand back as he sat up. "They can't be very good. I mean our disguises were flawless but they didn't suspect a single thing. And that last minute switch that Deidara did? A bit of bad acting there."

As Pein stood and walked out of the room his head half turned to give his partner his final parting thoughts. "Sometimes you are perhaps a little too cocky my dear."

* * *

Deidara walked behind his Danna in silence. Changing without a word and sitting down on Sasori and Konan's bed silently, waiting for the reproach he knew was coming. Sasori sat next to him, elbows on his knees and hands before him in a steeple.

"What should I say here?"

"Anything. I know what you're thinking. But the not yelling just makes it worse."

A chuckle rose out of him. "Having told me that if I wanted to torture you all I would have to do is keep silent. But now that you know that you wouldn't be nearly as tortured. I'm not going to yell Deidara. Because as sappy and emotional as this sounds we're all we have on this mission. It would do no good to upset you and have you fall out with all of us when we need each and every person in top form and on their game."

"So what, yeah? You yell at me when the mission is over?"

Sasori shook his head from side to side. "Nope. We understand. You're like that little sibling that fucks things up for the rest sometimes but we still like you because we can understand. Plus from what leader has said you didn't mess things up considerably. You might have even helped smooth things a tad. So while I don't recommend that you do this _ever_ again it's ok this time. We forgive you for your mistake."

"It wasn't a mistake. It was a thought out action. I wouldn't undo it if I could. But thank you." Deidara ran out of the room to the screams of Sasori calling him a brat and telling him he took back his words, that there would be retribution. But his smile never fell from his face.

He walked back to his own room and pulled out another set of files from the tons that Konan had given him, flipping idly through them. He wondered if he was allowed to make updates. He stopped and picked up the file that had contained details on the actual explosion, he'd been avoiding looking at this. Something had made Leader-sama think that he was part of this. Something that was in this file.

_I'm being silly. This is just a file and I know I didn't do this. What's there to be afraid of in a file? Nothing. You're being silly you ridicules blonde. _But his subconscious pushed a thought forward. He was afraid because something in this file pointed to someone with his style of explosions. And if he hadn't done it that left only two others who could have. Winter or his father. And the latter didn't make sense.

With a deep breath he flipped open the file and began to read. It was mostly quick short notes and statistics but things were sticking out. The person who had done this had used his style to a fault.

The bombs had been hidden in clay, it was a chakra infusion jutsu and the level of damage done was on par with some of the missions he had completed while still living within the walls. His eyes slid close and he flipped the page. Fires had burned for hours and there were even chain reaction explosions towards the end. This was….whoever had done this could have done so much worse to the city and yet they had shown mercy. They had chosen to stop. That also didn't make any sense to him. It was obvious there was a grudge here, something that drove this person to this point and yet they had stopped short. It was a personal attack.

Deidara blinked and reread the file over once more, trying not to scream out all of his frustration with the situation. There had to be an explanation for this and he would definitely find it before long. Ripping the box out of its hiding place he started to flip through each and every one of the files. There was someone in here who could do something like this. There had to be.

* * *

Pein blinked when he walked into his room, staring at the mess before him with distaste. On every inch of the floor their lay open files. There was nowhere to step amongst the clutter. He called out to Deidara who was at the heart of it. Snapping his fingers several times to catch his attention. Apparently the kid had decided to take his task of identifying the terrorist who had attacked the city much more seriously than he had this mission. His head snapped up and he glared at Pein for a second before wiping the look from his features.

"Did you need something?"

Pein gestured to the files. "Well a path to my closet would be nice for starters." Deidara quickly left the bed and cleared the folders out of the way, tossing them into piles and returning to his space quickly. He was on his way back towards intense focus when Pein butted into his conscious again.

"Have you figured anything out?"

Deidara was loathe to tell him anything because it would all be half information and half information was dangerous. "I understand why you thought this was me after reading the stats on the damage and explosion details. And…I'm looking for anyone who could mirror my style to this level. Because it could not have been my sister and it would not have been my father. He's insane but not nearly that insane."

Pein nodded and walked out of the closet in meeting clothes, gesturing to Deidara to give him his full attention.

"Ok. You can keep looking through these latter. For now we need to go to the first formal meeting so you need to pack all of this up and put it back in your hiding space."

Deidara blinked at him. "I'm you wife why am I needed at this meeting? I mean it's just…I'm making progress and if I'm just going to present an image well…we aren't actually responsible for keeping together the image of the Kumo ambassadors."

Pein's pupils turned to slits and he glared down on Deidara. "You are coming because I need your eyes and ears. And we are very much responsible for keeping together the image of the Kumo ambassadors. If we look anything less than actual politicians you know that this whole this could fall to pieces. That is what happens when people don't attend the proper meetings with the proper people. Suspicions fly and people start to look at them harder. And anyway your character is an ambassador, Zetsu told me that when he reported in an hour ago. Now pack the files away. I get that you're making progress but it's a secondary point."

Deidara promptly started flipping the files shut and tossing them into the box they had come out of. Pein satisfied with this walked into the bathroom. He called back over his shoulder.

"We won't kill your father this time."

"Does Hidan know that? He seemed really set on sending his soul to his god…"

Pein rolled his eyes. "He'll get over it. Now your father will be at this meeting and-."

"Don't worry I'm capable of containing myself. I won't snap and kill him or anything like that. But all the same I think I'll stay as far away from him as I can possibly manage."

"I'm perfectly fine with that."

Deidara and Pein slipped out of their room and walked to the elevators with Sasori and Konan, nodding to the rest with less thought.

"Explore the city and do whatever. Within means Hidan."

As the elevator slid down to ground floor they all settled themselves back into their facades. Faces wearing half smiles stepped from the elevator and walked off to mingle with the other diplomats.

* * *

**Author's note:** Things are going to speed up fast because as much as these filler chapters are needed I also want to get things rolling. Seven chapters worth of setting up people is enough I think. Thank each and every one of you who is still reading. I'm so sorry about the four month wait but when I say I'll update I mean it this time. As per usual I'll reread this in twenty four hours and fix my errors. For now live with them.


	8. Chapter 008: Let the Lights Fall

The two weeks of meetings and banquets and events before the funeral passed by with relative ease. Deidara fell in line with Pein's orders and didn't see his sister again when he wasn't supposed to. They interacted a few times at the events but beyond that he didn't get to talk to her and she never seemed to sense anything was different with him than any other conversation she had with diplomats. Itachi gave his brother a wide arc, in general staying away from the whole Konoha party while still keeping an eye of them. Aoi and Hitomi met twice more with Pein out beyond the village gates, this time with Deidara and Konan present.

It all culminated in this moment, sitting in chairs around the coffin of his mother, staring at her face as people stood up and said nice things about her. Deidara looked around and estimated the time, they'd probably been sitting at the funeral for a good two hours. _It shouldn't be much longer._

No sooner had he had that thought than the current speaker ended his speech and bowed to the casket. Deidara's eyes narrowed as his father took the podium, he was to be the last speaker before the coffin was entombed. As his speech began Deidara remembered ever interaction they had had over the last fourteen days and how each time he'd spoken to the man he'd felt revolted, nearly throwing up the time that he'd hugged his father.

"Five minutes to the live show. Set up the props." Pein whispered just loud enough for Deidara to hear but he didn't react other than to pull the sleeves of his kimono slightly further apart, separating his hands just enough.

"You have all come here today to mourn my wife with my child and myself. And it's right that there is this size crowd for her because Sayuri touched so many lives. She was more than a diplomatic wife, more than a mother, more than a partner, she was…" Deidara bit his lip at the possession in the Kage's voice, everything was his. _What is yours will soon be mine and what isn't mine will be in ruins._

Deidara let out a slow sigh and let his eyes slide towards Hidan who was standing in the back. His head was down, wether because he couldn't show the correct emotion or because he was praying Deidara couldn't tell.

"She was cut down in her prime and who knows what else she might have…."

Another flicker of eyes had him glancing at Tobi, Konan, and Sasori, they each had the same straight forward single attention gaze that Pein had….Their eyes seemed to be simply gazing forward in polite attention but anyone worth their skills could tell by the subtle flicker of eyes and the twitching of hands every few minutes that they were analyzing the scene, taking in everything around them and making sure that nothing escaped their notice.

"This terrorist who yanked my beloved away from me will not have the privilege of taking anyone else from this village."_ Ah and now we get to the politics…_But the thought of the terrorist rang in his head like a bell. He had to accept things, there was only one person who could have done it and she was sitting on the stage right now, legs crossed, eyes hooded, looking sad but probably just bored on the inside.

Deidara had looked through every single fill that Konan had given him. Ran the data every way he could think of and come up with hundreds of scenarios, pushing every ninja who could do this without having his particular Kekkei Genkai to the point of chakra exhaustion and then past. Nothing worked. You had to have his particular set of skills. And it killed him to admit it but she had to be the only one who would have done it, could have done it, should have done it.

"And I promise you…" This had to be the middle of his speech. Make promises and then return to the politics and finally a few last words about the woman that this had all been done for. He didn't have time to find Aoi and Hitomi and Kakuzu. He took a deep breath. The oxygen rushed through his lungs and into his blood stream, he opened his eyes and with less thought than usual his hand slid into their most familiar gesture. As the bombs went off behind the Kage's head toppling a small portion of the rock wall down the crowd dissolved into chaos. Everyone was terrified that their beloved village was once again going to be under siege.

Ninjas from the city jumped into action, there were doing their best to organize the people so that everyone got out safely while the security teams of the diplomats ran around frantically trying to get control of their subjects. The townspeople from Iwa were in hysterias, running anyway that they could to escape the entanglement of each other. Pein had jumped up and grabbed Deidara while Sasori did the same to Konan but it was just an act. They were as calm as could be. Deidara glanced to the stage where the Kage was being hurried away from the scene and then his eyes slipped towards Winter. She was calmly descending the stage and walking towards a team of Anbu that were rushing at her.

_She doesn't know anything about this…she should be more frantic. _A second explosion detonated and a rock moving more than fast enough to crush her even if it wasn't as large as a tent landed mere feet behind her. Deidara jerked back against Pein's hand, he had to rush her along, push her faster. She didn't seem to be taking this seriously but she needed to. Pein's gripped tightened on his arm and he merely pulled with more force. He had known this was going to happen and had given Deidara the smallest part to play in his plan after the explosions went off. He knew the boy would forsake everything to push her out from under a rock and he needed him to trust his friends with the same enthusiasm that he had displayed on the night he betrayed him.

He managed to maneuver himself so that he was standing behind the boy and put a hand on the small of his back, propelling him forward instead of pulling him along. "Keep moving, keep moving." They moved into Hidan's eye sight and his hand snaked out to grab Deidara's forearm, gripping it tightly and nodding to Pein that he had control of the situation.

Deidara flicked his eyes back to Winter as he changed handlers but she was now safetly on the back of an anbu guard who was speeding over the city. His breath rushed out of his lungs again and he didn't fight Hidan as he pulled him out of the crowd and off into an alley. As the crowd rushed passed the opening he locked eyes with Hidan. "How often do things-."

"Don't ask me that. There's no room for you to doubt Pein now. Things have begun and good or bad we have to stick to the plan. Things will go bad no matter what if we don't stick to the plan."

Deidara nodded at the convition in Hidan's eyes and closed his eyes for a moment, he banged his head against the stone of the wall for a minute and the pattern of pain calmed him. When his eyes opened again he was once again the boy who had sealed off his emotions to leave a little girl with a monster, a boy who killed with less than a thought, a boy who wouldn't hesitate to shed blood no matter who was in his way.

"Let's go."

The two of them rushed back into the crowd and off to their task.

* * *

Aoi closed his eyes as he rushed towards the wall, Winter firmly seated on his back and Hitomi running at his side. He was focused on the singular goal of getting her past that boundary. He felt Winter shift but only tightened his hold so that even if she wanted to she couldn't leave her perch on his back.

Her voice cut through him like a diamond through glass, soft and childlike but also cold and almost lower than a whisper. "You're heading towards the wall."

"Yes." He let himself look around to the Anbu beside him but he couldn't yet gauge how much of a battle this part was going to be.

"The safe house is in the other direction."

"Yes." Hitomi was pulling back now and the formation was subtly adjusting so that it held it's symmetrical shape.

"You're going to kill them aren't you."

"That would depend upon who you mean." Now was the part when he was supposed to put on that last burst of speed, leave his friend behind to die while he ran her to safety.

"Sir shouldn't we be circling back now? We've gotten ahead of the crowd but if we continue on this path we'll be caught up in some crowds when they spread out to take the city..."

"Stop." All it took was that single word and he did. He stopped dead in his tracks and half turned to face Hitomi, unable to say anything because he couldn't leave him behind. He could tell that rage was building behind his mask but he didn't even flinch as Winter slid off of his back and turned to face the full guard.

"Are we turning back now sir?" Aoi felt bad for the kid because as the words left his mouth Winter grabbed the sword strapped to her back and un-holstered it, slashing a clean line from his neck to his pelvis in a strike as quick as lightening. In true ninja fashion only a second passed before the other four members of the team trie to disarm her but it was no use. Things dissolved in a way that they couldn't have planned on when a giant plant popped out of the ground and ate off the legs of one man. It was now an even battle, three on three.

* * *

Sasori and Konan raced through the rooms that the team had occupied and collected the final things that they hadn't been able to send out of the city the night before. It was all shoved into the bags that had carried so much for them on the way here yet now only needed to hold a few trinkets and critical items.

As they heard the second round of explosions go off they met back in the main living room. "Do we have everything?"

Konan quickly ticked the things that had been left off in her head, each member had told her the things that they couldn't part with and she was going to be sure that she got all of it.

"Hidan and Kakuzu's books, you're puppet scrolls, the mission scrolls, the files, the clothes…." She continued on silently in her head and after a minute her head bobbed up and down in a tentative nod. Sasori moved to zip the bags and tossed them on her shoulders.

"Alright now where's the clay?"

She shuffled the bags into a comfortable position and pointed to a medium sized bag by the corner of the couch. "Are you sure you know how to do this?"

Sasori refrained from glaring at her. "If the brat can seal my puppet I can pull off one of his simple explosions. His chakra is already in the clay and I had some of it running through my system. All it takes is a hand sign."

She made her way over to the window, staring down at the mayhem in the streets. The people were confused and that was perfect, exactly what they needed. After shocks from the last blast rocked the tower and she turned back to Sasori to see him dropping what clay he hadn't dispersed around the room onto the coffee table at the very center of the apartments. He strolled calmly over to her and pushed the window open.

When they landed on the roof of the opposite building there was a third explosion. Sasori's eyes locked with Konan's and they were thinking the same thing. _Too close to the last one…not supposed to happen…did Deidara…?_

Sasori detonated the charges in the room.

* * *

Winter stood panting over the two men that she had just killed, the fight hadn't gone as easily as any other she had performed in and yet she guessed that that was how it was supposed to be when someone was fighting for their life and not the motives of someone else. She closed her eyes and gave herself a simple second to process the lives she had taken and then slid the eyes that had been locked open in death shut and stood, re-holstering her sword.

She raised her eyebrow at the plant man that stood before her but didn't address him. "I think you two need to explain some things."

"No time. We were supposed to be over that wall minutes ago."

She firmly planted her feet, sliding her kimono sleeves up and pulling her gloves off. "And I say we have all the time in the world so spill."

The plant man chuckled but she didn't pay him any attention.

"Winter we're leaving the city."

"No duh."

"Well that's all we have the time to explain." Hitomi started forward and his hands started to move in a familiar motion that was halted when she pulled a clay daisy out of her palm. She leaned down to lay it on the first corpses chest and then repeated the action with a rose for the second.

"We all know I'm not shy around bombs and fire. So why don't you…" her hand swept through the air as if she couldn't just find the correct word. "Elaborate."

Aoi shook his head. In the midst of a city on fire and civilians rushing through the streets in pure terror she was inquiring as to what was going on as if they were sitting down to tea and she was telling them about her latest mission that had gone well. He dove forward and picked her back up, readily throwing her over his shoulder and returning to his path.

"Absolutely no time." She made a sound of pure fright before regaining her composure. With a grunt that would probably have been a curse at him or someone he had once loved had she been able to fill her lungs with enough air to talk she made the hand signal to detonate her bombs.

* * *

Pein let loose a growl as he tracked Aoi and Hitomi across the city with his eyes. Tobi, standing at his side did much the same but in a slightly lower tone.

"That girl…" Tobi's tone was dripping with acid and he tried not to clench his fists, wary of his fingernails cutting into his palm.

"I know but I need her to ensure Deidara's loyalty."

"Yes but she's making her own rescue quite hard. That explosion she just set off is doing to spook at least someone."

Pein swept his gaze to his own partner who was quickly making her way towards the wall with Sasori hot on her heels. "Well those two did their job, the tower is crumbling and they're on their way out."

Tobi pointed out Hidan and Deidara who were laying their last set of explosions. "He seems to be doing fine."

"Zetsu is with the girl."

"Now were oh were is Kakuzu?"

"And Itachi? And Kisame?"

They both surveyed the town from the Kage tower, slightly worried about their subordinate's dissaperance.

* * *

Deidara set out his final charges, swaying slightly for a moment before tugging a bird from his pocket and enlarging it. He took a deep breath and didn't even jump when Itachi came out of the shadows.

"Did you do it?"

"Yea. Took no time at all but it won't be noticed until things calmed down."

Deidara nodded and made his way onto his clay creation, Hidan and Itachi quickly moving on behind him.

"You sure you can fly this thing?" Hidan didn't look worried in the slightest but he would hardly let the kid take off without at least a little assurance.

"Yep. Doesn't take much once it's big. Just a little skill more than anything."

They quickly rose above the city and shoot out over the wall. Deidara didn't dare look down. Not because he didn't want to see the masses running in the street, not because he didn't want to see the city in flames, but because he didn't want to spot his team members, his friends, and his sister fleeing the city that he was gleefully destroying. He kept his eyes pointed forward even as they sailed past Pein and Tobi.

* * *

Kakuzu and Kisame surfaced from below the remains of the Kage tower at the same time, dropping the last of the clay they had been handed at the entrance and then jumping up to stand beside Pein and Tobi.

"It was more of a mess than we estimated down there. It took us a little longer to find out way through the wreckage to place the bombs."

Pein nodded and Tobi just flashed them a thumbs up. "But you got it all done right?"

"Yea. Whenever you're ready you can set them off."

Again Pein nodded. His eyes tracked the girl and her companions over the wall, and then Sasori and Konan, and finally Deidara, Itachi, and Hidan. He finally took his eyes off the barrier and faced the men around him. "Alright."

That was the only warning he gave before tossing the largest bag of clay Deidara had been instructed to create into the hole that penetrated the roof of the tower. A flame seemed to spark in his eye as they each leapt as far back as they knew they could and detonated the final bomb that would cause the people the most terror. Their precious seat of power was burning for the second time in less than three months.

He gave a little laugh and then speed out of the city with his team members in a straight line behind him. Each jump felt like a victory and he couldn't help the maddened smile that spread across his face. He had won, yet again.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I enjoyed this chapter and I wanted to make it longer but I don't want to give everything away…So you just have to wait to see what was happening during all those little jumps when certain members weren't accounted for. This was only the beginning of the action.


End file.
